VERITAS  The seal of Imhotep
by Sareth-the-lost-one
Summary: An ancient manuscript leads the team to Egypt, on the quest for the 'seal of Imhotep', an artefact coveted for hundreds of years: by DORNA and the Templars. While the VERITAS-team tries to outmatch their enemies, Vincent's long guarded secret is revealed.
1. The old manuscript

=== New York – Veritas Headquarters / 2004 ===

Juliet worked intently on her thesis about comparative mythology, and that morning, with special excitement. A thick letter had arrived, indicating with its worn out envelope and the multiple postage stamps the long journey behind it.

"It's from Abba Hayed, from the monastery of Saint Catherine!" she had announced the curious rest of the team, hastily unpacking the not anymore expected present. A year had passed since she had found the first indication of this ancient codex from the early Coptic period – 4th century A. D. – in a library in Cairo. Since then, she had struggled through the Egyptian bureaucracy to get a permission to write another permission… and so on. Many doors had only opened after a considerable sum had been paid. Thanks God, Juliet thought; her mentor Solomon Zond was no one who had to economize. Every other scholar would've been forced to give up! Eventually, she had the desired paperwork done and - found herself confronted with the scruples of the monks of St. Catherine, who already had lost many precious treasures to ruthless thiefs and now were even more suspicious. Contacts had to be revived; sums paid; promises made… everything started anew, and Juliet had strongly doubted she would ever be able to look at this old manuscript presumably harboring the oldest version of the legend of Saint Anthony.

Now, she hadn't exactly the parchment pages in her hand – but the microfiches generated with the equipment the team had sponsored the monastery. However, she felt exactly that well known tickling she sensed when coming in contact with something ancient, mysterious; something telling a long-lost story about long forgotten people! She just needed to read and translate, and the past would take shape again! It was this sensation, which had instigated her to study History and Ancient Languages. It had lost nothing of its fascination, despite the many strange things she had witnessed as part of Dr. Zond's team so far.

…

She typed, zoomed in, sharpened the photograph of the 1600 years old faint letters, filtered them – but on this particular page, barely anything was perceptible. At least not, what she wanted to read. Nonetheless, after the multiple filtering and contrast heightening something ELSE showed up on the microfiche of the old page…

"I don't believe this!"

"What? Found some treasure map?" sounded Nikko's voice through the room. He had just entered, and, still playing with his baseball, seemed in a funny mood.

"There are hieroglyphs on that page! Abraded, but still visible with some filters!" Juliet said without really answering, but only speaking out her surprise.

"Impossible." That was Cal, who worked on his own project some meters away and – of course – knew perfectly well on what Juliet was working. "No one knew hieroglyphs anymore in the 4th century. In fact, they were already in disuse 500 years earlier!"

"That I know." Juliet indulged a sigh. Calvin was a nice guy and a hard worker, but he could have something very annoying habits!

"Maybe they've just taken some old paper, erased the stuff and…" Nikko let the baseball hop from one hand into the other. "Maybe they thought ecological! – What is this you're working on, anyway?"

The next pitch didn't land the ball in his other hand – because Vincent had snatched it in between.

"Hieroglyphs were written on papyrus," Cal felt the need to add in Nikko's direction. "When people started writing on parchment, they didn't know hieroglyphs anymore. Got it?"

"Thanks for the lecture, professor." Nikko shot him a grumpy look. He couldn't let an opportunity pass, couldn't he?

"Fact is, there ARE hieroglyphs on that page," Juliet took the word again, still staring at the screen her eyes narrowed and her lips pressed together.

"And what do they say?" Vincent asked ,as usual not bothering if anything could or should be or not, but attacking the fact.

"I'm trying to figure that out. It's just a small part of a greater text. Maybe there's more on other pages. … I'll run a comparison matrix with other texts in the database…"

Some minutes passed in silence. Everyone in the room – Calvin, Nikko and Vincent – had gathered behind Juliet and her computer screens. Anticipation had infected Nikko. This was the Veritas team. So – hey – this had to be an unusual, important text, something great and mysterious! For sure, it wasn't a cookbook! If it only didn't take that long to decipher it! Calvin had been in Egypt not so long ago and found these hidden chambers under the pyramid of Abusir. Maybe…

"Got something…" Juliet said, startling him. "This seems to be a historical account of the deeds of a pharaoh. These here, are the king's titles." She pointed to the screen. "And further down… it speaks of …. Yes, this could be the sign for 'resting place' … And this is another title … and name. Im-ho-tep."

Nikko grinned. „Imhotep? Like THAT Imhotep, you know? Revived mummy, ten plagues of Egypt…"

Cal shot him his best 'why do I have to be next to such a moron'-glance. Nikko raised his hands and laughed. "Man, it was a joke! Next time I make one, I'll hold up a note first, okay? – And besides, that was a great movie. Loved it. Now, who was this guy in your text?"

"The constructor of the step pyramid, the first pyramid ever built." Juliet's eyes were wide with awe.

"A mathematical genius," Calvin fell in, with a little tremble in his voice and bent down to get a better look at the faint hieroglyphs.

"Not only that. He was a physician, too," said Vincent. "In later centuries, people ascribed to him the invention of all magic. He was worshipped as a god, and temples were built for him."

"And some said, he was one of the last descendants of the Ancients," Juliet concluded. "Many treasure and wisdom seekers already searched for Imhotep's burial site, thinking there they would find wisdom and ancient techniques! The search started already in the late Roman period of Egypt."

"That's pretty cool, uh! Over 2000 years people are digging after this tomb and haven't found it, and you think this is the route description?"

"I'm not sure yet, Nikko. It's only a small fragment of text. I mean, basically, it could say 'there's the burial place of Imhotep's favorite cat' or something like that. I have to check the manuscript, if there are any more abraded pages in it. I need some time."

Meant: waiting. Something Nikko hated the most in this 'profession'. Immediately, a thousand questions had formed in his head. Fortunately for Juliet, Vincent had grabbed the impatient youngster by the shoulders and guided him out, before there was time to start asking.

…

It was already past midnight. Solomon and Maggie were still at the Getty Museum in L.A. and weren't expected back before the next evening. And Juliet was still working in front of the screens, now and then yawning, taking her glasses off and rubbing her eyes.

"You should have some rest."

Vincent! How long had he been standing there already? Knowing him, she assumed quite some time. In the beginning, when she had just joined the Veritas team, Vincent and his habits had intimidated and scared her. He seemed to show up out of nowhere, moved stealthily, a calm, shadow-like figure in his almost always black clothes. Oh yes, he had made her feel quite uncomfortable! The more after she had had the opportunity to witness his skills in combat. Undoubtedly, he would've been capable of killing them all fast and swiftly – and without a trace, if he chose so… Well, this fear was over. Juliet did not know when it had happened or which event had made her reaction to his presence switch to absolute trust. It had just been the case. As long as he was there, the abyss of hell itself could have opened right in front of her feet, and she would not have been scared – she supposed.

Nonetheless, why couldn't he stop sneaking up on people like that? But, on the other hand, Juliet decided she had been that buried in her research she wouldn't have noticed anyone entering the room, not even Nikko!

"Tired eyes see things, which aren't there." Vincent added, halting some steps in front of her. "It's nearly as dangerous as seeing nothing."

She wanted to fend off, but couldn't suppress a yawn and thus nullified her attempts to stand the ground in an instant. Vincent gave her a tiny half-smile, when she finally stood up.

"Good night, then!"

When she was out of the room, he walked to the computer and looked down at the file, worry displayed in his face.

=== Egypt / Near Cairo / Anno Domini 1218 ===

The battle was raging on since daybreak, and when the red-colored sky of sunrise gave way to clear blue, the red color had tinted the ground and the water instead. The crusader's army, en route to Cairo after a hard-won entrance into Damietta further North, had walked into a well-prepared trap. Now, severely outnumbered, weakened by the blazing sun and several illnesses, they were an easy prey for the enemy. Nonetheless, the small group of Knights Templar amidst the other crusaders, fought with all the ferocity of men knowing that they had to expect nothing when taken prisoner. One after the other of the brave men fell.

A young man, barely more than a teenager, just had grabbed the sword from the hand of his dead comrade and attacked, a fierce battle cry on his lips. The once impeccable white of his tunic had become as red as the cross on his chest hours ago, and shred into pieces around his legs and arms. His handsome face was covered with dirt and blood as well - he looked very much like the demons of hell themselves. Roaring, the young Templar pierced a Sarasin enemy with his weapon, ripped the sword back, stumbled and lost ground in the mixture of mud and blood under his boots. The scimitar of the enemy splashed into the wet ground next to his head. He rolled over, tried to get on his feet - when his dangerous enemy was felled by a mighty strike done by another Templar. Now, the old scar faced warrior, bent down to his young brother in arms, whispering: "Flee!"

"I'm not a deserter!"

The old Templar grasped the young comrade's arm. "I give you an order!" He shouted to make himself understood in the noise of the battle. "We have a mission! You know that! Greater than this war, greater…" Now the lips of the old man were close to his comrade's ear: "…than Jerusalem itself!"

The young man looked tortured. He had been drilled and prepared to fight till the last breath, not to run!

"You must go now! The battle is lost, and we can't hold them back much longer!"

"But-"

"We've protected you thus far, now it's your turn to fulfill the pledge!"

Preoccupied with their conversation, neither of the two Templars had seen the enemy taking aim with his bow. Only when the eyes of the old warrior widened in shock and pain, both men discerned their foe. However, it was too late; the arrow had hit a vulnerable part of the armor and gone right through the old man. Death was only seconds away. They knew it.

"Go! Find the … seal… of … Imhotep!" the old man rasped and coughed blood. "Before… THEY… do…"

=== VERITAS - Headquarters New York / 2004 ===

Solomon and Maggie had returned and eagerly listened to the unsuspected news Juliet had to offer.

"The tomb of Imhotep," Solomon repeated her just spoken words like a magic incantation itself. An almost solemn atmosphere had settled in the room.

"The tomb seems not the most important thing, though, as far as I've been able to decipher these text fragments," Juliet continued. "There's a hieroglyph which can be read as seal or key. Look here!"

She turned the screen around so everyone could see it and pointed at a magnified and highlighted sign. There wasn't very much to see, though, and Nikko just raised his eyebrows, wondering once more if the experts had not just stared long enough into the digital noise to discover anything in there. However, Solomon nodded gravely, and even Vincent bent down, narrowed his eyes and then said: "Not 'or'. It's seal-key."

Juliet was surprised. Vincent had never mentioned he knew something about hieroglyphs! However, well, he hadn't mentioned a lot of things, she was sure!

Solomon didn't seem much surprised - he had given up being startled by anything having to do with his friend a long time ago.

"So what is this? The seal at the doors of Imhotep's tomb?" The Ancient Egyptians sealed the doors with wax after the burial rites had been completed. To find intact seals still hanging on their original wire - like Carter did in Tutanchamun's case - meant to find an almost untouched tomb!

"From the context, I would say, no," Juliet answered. "It seems to be a small, moveable object. Sadly, there's no more text."

"DORNA believes the seal of Imhotep is some sort of power source," revealed Vincent. "For the Ring of Truth. The … ignition key."

He had stepped to the windows and glanced outside with that particular look letting Juliet think immediately at an army of snipers surrounding them. "How many people knew about this manuscript?"

"Only Abba Hayed… and the monks who helped install our microfiche machine. But no one could know about the hieroglyphs, until now!" She sounded not very certain, though, given Vincent's expression.

"DORNA is on search for this seal for almost 2000 years. They've killed or let kill Hundreds without giving them a single thought. They ruined countries to lay their hand on this artefact. If we have a trace leading to it, we cannot be cautious enough! - We have to move. And we have to move as fast as we can and guard our backs."

Considering Vincent's usual reticence this was quite a speech. It didn't fail to leave the respective impact.

Dr. Zond walked through the room, mentally checking everything they knew so far about the Ring of Truth. It was said to hold the wisdom and knowledge of the Ancients, even of God, immense power - but the parts they had assembled so far, were nothing but interesting pieces with old scripture on it. It hadn't displayed any mythical power, or superhuman, extraterrestrial power, for that matter! However, what had been Vincent's words? Ignition key? A car was an interesting assembly of metal parts, too, unless someone knew he had to turn the key… He felt excited and a bit anxious with that sudden perspective forming in his mind. And without a doubt, Vincent was right about DORNA!

However… „A trace - that's the point. Do we exactly have a trace? Juliet?"

„These text fragments point to the area in the West of the Step Pyramid. I have found two measurements, written in Ancient Greek units. I'll convert them and feed the data into the satellite map of the area."

Some minutes later, a red crosshair blinked on the screen with the satellite map in front of the impatient VERITAS - Team.

„That's close to the digging site of Edwards," remarked Solomon. „He thought to be close to the discovery of Imhotep's tomb, when he died. But the digs were never continued. There were rumors going on, about a curse."

Nikko grinned. „I mentioned it, didn't I?"

Everyone ignored him, and he shrugged.

„I heard that several members of the Edwards-team had some nasty accidents," Calvin said, taking in the sight on the display.

„DORNA convinced them not to stick their noses any further in the sand, I suppose," replied Solomon. Vincent's look was enough for a ‚yes'.

The next hour passed with preparations. The team was used to relatively hasty changes of place. Computer equipment, scanning devices, digging tools were ready in handy storage boxes, in addition to mountaineer harnesses. Maggie had a high - end medical emergency bag at the ready. And Vincent showed up in the entrance hall of the HQ with a suspicious-looking bag holding some efficient defense systems for sure. A moment later, when Juliet arrived, he was just about to finish his outfit with a small automatic weapon he took from a compartment near the door and stored it into a shoulder belt. His movements displayed the swift routine of an elite soldier.

With a small shiver, Juliet remembered the situation, when Vincent had pressed such a weapon into her hands, simply saying ‚Aim at their heads'. It had been then, when Maggie had been infected with this virus by the Maya - mummy.

Now, closing his jacket, Vincent glanced up to her and smiled, one of these gentle little smiles as if they were guests at a summer party, and not about to plunge themselves into a dangerous quest again!

Before Juliet had time to wonder about him once more, Nikko and Cal appeared, involved in a discussion about the hieroglyphs.

„…and how these hieroglyphs ended up on parchment; as you said yourself this can't be? I mean, maybe that's a fake; hidden camera, you know!"

Hearing that, Vincent's smile became wider. He liked Nikko, because the boy could keep an open mind; he wasn't impressed that easily, he always thought about a third way, the unusual things!

However, in this case, things weren't as inexplicable, as Nikko and Calvin as well thought. The answer was surprisingly simple, in fact.

„The ancient cults and knowledge didn't die out as fast as scholars believed for a long time," his father answered. „Did you know that on the island of Philae, Isis was still worshiped in the 6th century A.D.? These people guarded the wisdom, the stories, of their forefathers, and among them, obviously the secret of Imhotep's tomb, which was already long destroyed by then. Some scientists even belief, the last remnants of the ancient knowledge only was destroyed when Islam occupied Egypt."


	2. In enemy's hands

The private jet of the Veritas – team was over the Atlantic for some hours now. Solomon talked with Maggie about sonar archeology and the latest archeometric mapping of the respective area around the step-pyramid. Surrounded by computer screens and large printouts, their seats looked more like in a University's office than in an airplane. Juliet sat on the couch and went through her notes on the old manuscript once again.

"It's somewhat ironic," she said in Calvin's direction. "That person, probably a follower of the ancient Egyptian cults, wrote down his precious knowledge of Imhotep's burial place to save it – and his account ended up almost destroyed as well, by the new faith. Some monk just buried the text under a new one, like the sand has buried the remnants of the tomb itself."

"It waited for us!" The answer hadn't come from Calvin, who was too absorbed in his 3-D-scan-preparations, but from Nikko, who leaned in from the opposite seat. He hadn't meant this to sound very serious and grinned.

"It has." Vincent's voice. Sounding very serene.

Nikko's grin froze for a moment, and then he just sneered and stuck his nose in his comic again.

=== Cairo / Airport ===

Only a few machines stood on the area reserved for private airplanes. While the team packed and got ready to leave, Vincent went into the cockpit for a quick perimeter check. His experienced military gaze literally scanned the area, the building to the west, the service vehicles and the play of light and shadow in between. He couldn't discern any suspicious movement.

"Everything's clear!"

Wishing the pilot good-bye, Vincent joined the others on the gangway, his right hand at the weapon in his shoulder belt, though. Of course it was forbidden to carry firearms in the airport area. But of course, Vincent knew the right people at the right places - people who didn't dare making a fuzz considered that one of DORNA's most lethal agents (even if ex-agent, in his case) was involved.

A friendly customs officer awaited them in the hall, and in exchange for a considerable baksheesh, he made the procedure a very short one. Then, the team was on its way to the parking deck.

Suddenly Vincent stopped, listened and then signaled the others to move on fast toward their in advance rented transport. Almost the same instant, shots echoed through the concrete structure. Vincent drew his weapon and dove into cover behind a parking car. "Solomon, plan B!"

Zond nodded and led the others not to the prepared van, but to another transport waiting in the opposite aisle. Despite the situation, Nikko smiled. Vincent really was a crack! There wasn't a situation he hadn't prepared a plan B and C for, it seemed! Probably transport A had posed as a bait to lure out the enemy all along!

Solomon opened the door and Maggie climbed in, followed by Cal, who lifted the bags into the car. More shots, answered quickly by Vincent.

"Nikko, get in!"

When he didn't move fast enough, his father pushed him in.

"What about Vincent?" Cowering on the ground next to the door, Juliet glanced back over her shoulder, tried to spot their comrade. Sounds of a hand-to-hand-combat was all she could discern, but she didn't see anyone.

"Vincent does what he always does." Maggie grabbed Juliet's hand and dragged her inside. "He takes care of himself."

The rear door of the van slid shut. Shots splashed against the vehicle's side, however without doing any harm, as it was armored. Solomon started the engine.

=== Cairo / Al-Gezira ===

_Vincent does what he always does. He takes care of himself. _Maggie's confident statement sounded somewhat stale meanwhile. The team had occupied its rooms in a little hotel in the embassy district. Without Vincent. First, they had been sure he'd catch up with them any minute, with just a shrug, keeping the bloody business of their defense to himself as usual. But the hours passed and Vincent remained missing.

Juliet stared at her papers, pretending to work. Nothing could've happened to Vincent, could it? He had saved them several times; he was smart, strong, fast and well trained. He couldn't simply go MIA!

The hieroglyphic fragments danced in front of her eyes. She blinked and turned the page automatically, her thoughts elsewhere. The occasional glance out of the window revealed the darkening sky and the already lit windows in the buildings nearby. Where was Vincent? Juliet's view wandered over the faces of the other crew members, who were sitting together in this suite, worried more and more as well.

"I'm going to lie down for a while," Juliet decided and went into the adjacent bedroom, not daring to move into her own room. Without any distraction, her mind only focused more on Vincent. The days in Tibet… How they tried to get their hands on the Da Vinci - diaries…

Good Lord, had it been a crazy plan to pose as Vincent's wife! She had been sure everyone would see through that disguise within a few minutes. The more she had been surprised to discover him as skilled in high-society manners as in combat. He walked among those business tycoons and nobility as if he'd never done anything else than wearing expensive suits and drinking Champaign. Maybe it was then, when she… well… fell in love with him… a bit at least. As long as he hadn't his 'scary moments'. That festive evening, he had been simply too good looking for not catching a poor girl's heart. Of course this had been part of the whole performance. Work aside, Vincent didn't seem interested in that kind of relationships at all. Juliet didn't remember having him heard mentioning any girlfriends - or boyfriends, for that matter - in those 4 years they were already working together. His personal life was just as shrouded in mystery as his past.

Juliet sighed and stared at her wrist watch. Half past 10 pm. Where was Vincent?

=== Cairo / Anno Domini 1218 ===

Finally, even the restless, bustling city of Cairo had found a few hours of rest after the heat of the previous day. It was flooding season, and a foul stench rose from the water that slopped lazily against the old walls. Myriads of flies plagued men and animals. Rats scurried through junk piling up in narrow passage ways.

Against his will, forced by exhaustion, the young deserter by orders from the battlefield of Damietta had dropped down on some bundles of hay. He wore the simple clothes of the natives, with a hooded Bedouin cape that shielded his fair hair from curious eyes. While he had still lived with his Templar brethren, he had kept his head shaved as the order's rule demanded. But he was under way for three weeks now and a curly light brown hair cap framed his sun-tanned features. He understood and spoke Arab - his old Templar friend had taught him - but still his accent betrayed him as foreigner. And his knowledge of the indigenous culture was limited. It was difficult and dangerous to travel like that in these times. He could've been imprisoned or hanged as a Christian spy very fast.

At least, the young man had managed to reach the vicinity of Saqqara and the supposed burial place of Imhotep! These were his last thoughts before he fell asleep that night. He dreamt about the engraving he had seen on the Holy Grail. Would they guide him to the seal of Imhotep indeed, like his mentor had said? _You are our only hope. Find the seal of Imhotep before they do._

…

The two scoundrels stopped in their tracks. One of them lifted the little oil lamp he was carrying and took a closer look at the human figure on the ground.

"It's a stranger. An infidel. Look at his hair!"

"Allah may curse them all!" He bent over the sleeping man, who didn't wake up despite the greedy fingers searching his robe. "Nothing of value." The would-be-robber spit out and thus shooed some nearby sitting rats.

"Let's take him!" whispered his partner in crime. "They pay well for fair-haired, beardless boys on the slave market!"

Now the young Templar in disguise awoke, startled - and tried to break free from the firm hands that had grabbed his arms. He managed to shake off one of the men and to fetch his dagger. His movements were fast and he knew what was at stake. But in a darkness only dimly lit by an oil lamp and squeezed in a narrow alley, he could only do so much. He supposed he had wounded one of his opponents, because he heard him screaming. The next moment the other man was on his knees, gasping for air. But when the young Templar stroke out to finish his enemy, something hit his head and he went down himself.

=== A compound near Cairo / Present day ===

_Splat. _Every time a blood drop fell on the stone floor, it made that sound. The older, dried ones had a dark, almost black color by now. The fresh ones gleamed in the shine of the lonely light bulb at the ceiling.

_Splat._

Vincent took a deep breath, as deep as possible with bleeding nose and lips, and focused on the way the stream of air took to his lungs, through his body. Providing strength, endurance, tranquility. He was in control of every cell of his body. _Focus. There are more important things than pain. _

Another hit, out of the blue, from behind. "Why are you here?"

_Splat - splat - splat._

"What are you guys searching for this time? ANSWER!"

_Pain is not important. Pain is not real. It can be shed like dust. Focus. _Vincent closed his eyes. The dirty naked wall in front of him gave way to the landscape of a calmly flowing river and sun bathed hills. He was in control. His mind was stronger than their violence. Another deep breath.

The man standing behind the prisoner hissed a curse, when he turned to his comrade, who had just opened a little suitcase with several 'instruments of persuasion'. "Give him an injection, dammit! I don't wanna waste the whole night on this bastard!"


	3. To Saqqara

**=== Cairo / Anno Domini 1218 ===**

The air in the underground dungeon was almost irrespirable, filled with smoke and various human perspirations. The half-naked torturer, who was just as sweat covered as his victim, sneered angrily:

"Thrice cursed filthy Christian! Don't you want to answer?"

He pulled at the wheel in front of him and stretched the rope which held the prisoner yet tighter. Battered bones and muscles gave a crack of protest, but the mouth of the young Templar remained shut.

A gesture signaled another prisoner – one of those who thought to get a little advantage in downgrading himself to be the right hand of this place's devil – to put more of the dried cow dung into the fire below the rack.

The Templar squeezed his eyes and tried to focus on the words of the Lord's prayer. He wasn't sure, how long he already had been in this vault of darkness. The city guard had taken him prisoner, after the fight with these two scoundrels. And their commandant seemed to be willing to push his career by delivering a "Christian spy" to the Sultan. Much to the commandant's growing anger, the "spy" refused to confess!

"I'm going to kill you bastard!" The wheel turned another time. "What are the Christian kings' plans?"

_The seal of Imhotep. … I must get the seal of Imhotep…_

"Have you been sent to poison the Sultan?"

_You are our only hope. _

"HAVE YOU BEEN SENT TO POISON THE SULTAN?"

The prisoner passed out.

**=== Compound near Cairo / Present time ===**

The pale face of the DORNA –henchman contorted in annoyance and his thin mustache twitched. With a curse, he kicked against the trash bin. "That was the third injection, dammit! All he's saying is fucking bullshit!"

"Did you run everything through the computer? Maybe it's some kind of code," the other man said, leaving their unconscious, to the chair chained prisoner alone.

"'Course I did! The program can't discern anything of use, not even which language this is! Crap!"

The door opened and another man entered, his suit and business attire not matching very well with these surroundings. He answered to the sonorous and famous name Antonio de' Medici and was known in other circles as a gallery owner.

"How's going?" he asked, and the silence of his men answered the question.

"Not very well, I see." De'Medici walked past his two torture specialists and paused in front of Vincent.

He bent down, grabbed the prisoner's chin and lifted his face up.

"You could've won your career with us back, Vincent. If you had just been a little more cooperative." The man's gaze wandered back to his two henchmen. "Get rid of him!"

"Sir?" After investing that much time in the prisoner, the pale-faced henchman was slightly irritated.

"Zond is still in the vicinity. One of our contacts revealed in which hotel they've checked in. Of course, they were gone by the time I paid them a visit. But there are only so many places around here, which could attract VERITAS' attention. We'll have to check them one by one." He looked down at Vincent's motionless figure again and smirked icy. "We have no time anymore for our hero's little stalling techniques!"

**=== Cairo / Anno Domini 1218 ===**

It was the smell that awoke the young Templar. That nauseating, disgusting, sweet smell. He tried to move, but didn't succeed very well. Something heavy lay upon him. Where was he? When he probed his memory, he ended up in the dungeon on the rack… His right hand could grasp something. Another hand? He fumbled further. It seemed to be an ear…

Suddenly, he knew where he was: amidst a pile of corpses, probably waiting for burial or cremation! He struggled to get free, which was no easy task. Finally, his hands touched sandy ground, and when he turned his head, he could discern some miserable buildings and above, the night sky. And voices! Running some steps, stumbling, crawling and running again, the Templar fled and only stopped, when he had reached some sort of plantation with several huge palm trees. He cowered down behind one of them, tried to calm his racing pulse as well as hinder his teeth from chattering. It was biting cold! Only now he discovered that he was completely naked.

Had he been dead and had God rescued him and sent back to complete the mission? God or the … Devil? His hands moved over the marks the torture had left on his body. They still hurt, and he felt still very weak, but – had it been true, what his old Templar friend had told him once? The young man trembled not just because of the nightly cold. His lips formed a silent prayer.

**=== Cairo / Present time ===**

„What are we going to do now? I mean, we can't just sit here and wait!" Nikko's voice broke into Juliet's carousel of worried thoughts.

"We won't," Dr. Zond answered him. "We're going to pack up and leave within the hour to Saqqara."

"WHAT?" Juliet could hear Nikko jumping down from wherever he had been sitting. She got up herself and tried to put her appearance in a little more order, while next door the argument evolved.

"What about Vincent? We just leave him to those DORNA-terrorists, or what?"

"There's nothing we can do for him."

"We don't even know where he is," Calvin joined. "We can't launch a rescue operation like in one of your computer games!"

"Just shut up!"

"Nikko, listen to me. We can't help Vincent. But I know that he would want us to proceed with our mission and if possible retrieve the artifact! It's what he made his sacrifice for!"

_God, they talk as if he was already dead!_ Juliet thought and almost poked her hairpin into her finger. _Vincent can't be dead! It just cannot happen! _When she entered the main room, she saw Nikko shaking his head and snorting in frustration.

"So far, no one came after us," Solomon continued. "That means DORNA hasn't any clue where we are. We'll use that little window of opportunity."

"I can't believe it!" Nikko couldn't stay calm and collected. He was simply too young for this kind of calculations. "You just shrug and go on with your business when one of us is—"

"Vincent is the best friend I ever had, the person I trust the most – after your Mom, Nikko. But sometimes we have to make hard decisions."

"Seemed not particular hard to me," the youngster muttered and turned away.

**=== Cairo / Anno Domini 1218 ===**

It was getting day, and still the fugitive squatted in the field, waiting for an opportunity to get at least some clothes. And now it seemed that the opportunity had started to show in the shape of a teenager sitting on a donkey. Not only clothing, but transportation as well!

Feeling already much better than hours ago – only hungry – the Templar sneaked up on the boy. In a fortunate moment, he dragged him down and kicked him out of business. Shortly after he headed West, where he knew the step pyramid was. He recalled the signs written on the Grail. It reassured him, he STILL knew them by heart. The merciful Lord would guide him! A faint smile showed on his lips, while the donkey trotted away from the fields into the surrounding desert.

**=== Saqqara / Present time ===**

The team's mood didn't change while they left the hotel and hit the road direction Saqqara. The first daylight just painted the sky, but when they reached their destination, it was already blazing hot again. It was mid-July and really no time for a sightseeing tour in Egypt, much less for a working tour! In the area of the step pyramid, all archeological digs had been put on hold for this season. The VERITAS-team was alone as far as the view could reach. As soon as the equipment had been offloaded, they escaped into the little bit of shadow what an old stone wall provided.

During the recent years, archeologists had restored a part of the ancient festivity complex the Pharaoh used for celebration of his jubilees. They had done great work, but right now, Juliet was neither interested in architectural achievements nor the efforts of Maggie and Cal to set up the sonar equipment. It was so strange not to see Vincent standing guard somewhere! Or hearing him giving one of his little comments. In the first weeks after she had joined the team some four years ago, she had assumed he was nothing more than a good soldier. A reliable fighter – but well, not exactly a great mind! Meanwhile, she knew far better. Vincent didn't show off like Cal sometimes, and he might not have a Ph.D. in any exotic science. However, he was very intelligent, and had the quick analytical thinking that saved their lives so often. Juliet remembered that he had beaten the computer in his chess sessions, and not only once.

_It's just impossible that he's dead. He'd outsmart death!_

"Hey." A shadow fell on her, and Juliet discovered Nikko. "We're almost much done with setting up the scanner. – You miss Vincent, right?"

"It's just…." She sighed. "This isn't how it should be."

"I was that annoyed when he drilled me; I swear he brought me close to an explosion many times!" Nikko huffed and retreated a bit further in the little shadowy corner – at least he tried. "But I just can't imagine he'd be gone… and never again chase through some weird training! He was … how I wished…" He stopped, not wanting to speak aloud 'Dad was supposed to be'. This was not fair. But he wanted to do something! And the realization that his father was right, and they couldn't do anything in this matter, made Nikko even angrier.

At that moment, Maggie waved.

"Work is waiting," Juliet said, glad about the change and hoping she could focus on the things that needed to be done now.

The scanner was operating perfectly – the huge sum spent for this device had been worth every cent! As indicated by the old manuscript, the team had defined a rectangular space to the North of the step pyramid, between two official digs. They hoped they would not have to interfere with their work, but as far as the scanner told, the ground was pretty undermined already. They had to be very careful!

"I have a stone structure in that area." Maggie pointed at the grid on the screen. "And some large cavities below. From the size and shape, I'd say they are definitely man-made. The depth is three to four meters."

"It's too close to the surface for Imhotep's time," remarked Calvin. "It's probably first half of New Kingdom, or Middle Kingdom. I'd need to see some decorations to date it exactly, of course."

_If I hadn't found the manuscript, Vincent would still be with us_, was all Juliet could think about, despite her efforts to switch her mind to work.

"There is another set of structures further below, right under that pile of sand or debris in this area," Maggie continued. "At least five or six chambers."

Solomon took a close look at the screen himself. "That looks more promising. What about the ground structure? Can we get in without special equipment?"

Maggie adjusted the scanner. "No problem to get down into that first structure, I think. We have to remove this flat stone… a ceiling plate, probably. But it'll get tricky around here!" Her finger made a circle on the screen. "We should apply some reinforcements before we'll move further down, or we could get trapped behind a slip."

Solomon nodded. They had brought some nano-fibre-struts with them; it should be easy to secure the tunnel. He only hoped they wouldn't get unwelcome visits by DORNA agents. Without Vincent and his weaponry, he felt somewhat helpless. He wondered if his old friend was still alive. If this was the case, he'd probably trick his opponents into the wrong direction, lure them away from the real goal of this expedition. When the team failed this time … no, he didn't want to think about that!


	4. Revelations

**=== Near Cairo / A Street Check Point / Present Day ===**

The guard from one of the multiple military security stations along the roads of modern Egypt looked warily at Antonio de'Medici – or rather at the bills in the man's hand. Bribery was the common use, as everyone earned far too less money to make a living, but normally it was about small traffic delicts! And not…

"Now what about that license plate? Have you registered a vehicle bearing it within the last hours?" De'Medici gestured tentatively into the direction of the book lying on the worn-out table of the little post. The guard hesitated. He didn't want to be a part of any big nasty business! De'Medici added another Dollar bill. "I'm sure you have a large family. Maybe you'd love to see one of your children go to an expensive private school?"

Finally, the guard gave in and checked his registration book. The DORNA members waited impatiently. Their team had already visited five check points with no result, and other teams had not had more luck. Maybe their contact within the police provided a wrong license plate; maybe he even was on VERITAS' payroll. In any case, De'Medici was out of temper. This mission had produced some dead already, and if he couldn't come up with Zond and his team, HIS superiors wouldn't be that amused!

While the guard was busy browsing through the book, another of De'Medici's men joined the team: the pale-faced moustache-guy.

"You've cleaned everything up?"

The henchmen only nodded. De'Medici felt a little better. Vincent Siminou had become a nuisance long ago. It had been about time DORNA disposed of him! He smiled, when the guard turned toward them again.

"The car with that license plate was on the route to Saqqara, Sir."

"Thank you very much for your help!"

**=== Saqqara / Anno Domini 1218 ===**

The young Templar arrived by night as planned. The deep black starry sky spread like a dome over the flat desert with the old step pyramid in its middle. What a marvelous building that was, he thought, slowly wandering around and even forgetting the cold. Was it true that it was older than the Great Flood? It seemed that incredibly old! He had asked his Templar mentor once, but all he got was a smile…

He forced himself back from the awe and reveries. A task was waiting, and he was all alone! He sat down on the sand, folded the arms around his body and recalled the symbols he had seen on the Holy Grail once more. A triangle with steps – the pyramid; a star sitting directly on its top, like a diamond crown; the hand of God beneath it. Neither he nor his Templar friend had been able to decipher the accompanying ideographs. No one ever had been able to read these, not even his father, who had said the Grail had been in the family's custody for hundreds of years! All the young Templar had, were the interpretations, the legends – and his trust!

_Where the North Star completes the resting place of the king, there you will stand in the hand of God. There you will find what has been hidden, the words of Imhotep, the seal to the truth._

He began to walk around the area, until he had found the right position and the North Star seemed to sit indeed on top of the pyramid, in the center of the last large stone step, like a beacon. But… the hand of God? Where or what was the hand of God, or what did it mean? The young man turned around slowly and checked the landscape surrounding him for marks. It was just so little light! And the weak oil lamp he had stolen in a house along the way made things even worse.

_You will stand in the hand of God._

The Templar squeezed his eyes and tried hard to discern anything. The hand of God. For what was he supposed to search? The hand of creation, of benediction…? Two stretched fingers… The circle he could move in without losing the North Star on top of the pyramid was very narrow. There! The shadows of these stones, didn't they look like a finger? And the other one… yes, right next, only partially buried under the sand! The Templar smiled, the first full smile, he allowed himself since this campaign had begun. No, to be honest, since he set out that day long ago to save the Grail! He ran to the assigned spot and started to dig with his bare hands.

**=== Saqqara / Present Day ===**

The VERITAS team members had left the first passage of the upper structure behind and now entered a larger chamber, full of paintings and hieroglyphic scripture.

"That's early New Kingdom, just as I suspected," said Calvin.

"Those seem to be… texts from Imhotep's Book of Wisdom." Juliet inspected another wall. "I would say, this is a tomb of a pilgrim, who wanted to be buried next to his revered protector."

Calvin took several photos with his special camera, for they had no time to investigate this subterranean structure any closer. Their destination lay still a few meters below that stone floor!

They moved on until they reached the area, where the support struts had to be erected first. Solomon, Calvin and Nikko did that, while Maggie recalibrated her computer equipment, and Juliet used the break to check the debris that filled the place. Her thoughts were still preoccupied with Vincent. Gazillion things she wanted to talk to him about came to her mind now. It was really time to learn to speak things out! In this case, it was not only time… it was too late… Feeling yet worse, Juliet brushed some sand and fallen plaster away and discovered a little object underneath. She picked it up very carefully, blew away the dust and examined it.

"What's that?" Nikko asked."An oil lamp. And… I think we're not the first ones entering this place."

Now the attention of the rest of the team was attracted, too and they gathered around Juliet.

"There are Arabic characters on it. So it's definitely past 7th century," Juliet explained.

"Judging by its form," Solomon Zond added, "I would place this between 11th and 14th century."

"Grave robbers."

"Well, let's move on, maybe they just took the stuff from this tomb, and left the structure below intact. Maybe they didn't know about it." Calvin gestured ahead.

"They weren't supposed to know this one either," Solomon said gloomy. That particular bad feeling settled in his stomach!

**=== Saqqara / Anno Domini 1218 ===**

Inside the tomb, the Templar stepped forward. His hands were bleeding from the removal of sand and gravel from the crumbled entrance. He was tired, thirsty and hungry – but at the moment, nothing of that mattered anymore. He was simply astonished by the pictures and ancient scriptures around him. How was he supposed to find his way around here? He knew so little! He shouldn't be here on this mission alone; there had been three brethren assigned to the task! But they had fallen in the battle of Damietta. All those signs and colors the flame of his little oil lamp revealed with every step he took! Those strange creatures, beasts like right out of hell! He made the sign of the cross, just in case.

Suddenly, the debris he was walking on gave way; he lost ground and despite his frantic attempt to grasp something, he slid down in some cavity. When the dust had settled, and he could breathe again, he discovered that he had dropped about 5 meters into another tunnel. His oil lamp was gone of course. Nonetheless, light shimmered down here emanating from somewhere – or somewhat. It was a faint bluish glow, just bright enough to identify his surroundings. This structure was man-made as well, there couldn't be any doubt. Reliefs and ancient characters covered the walls; however, they seemed not as sophisticated as in the place upstairs. The young Templar struggled to his feet. He forced his mind away from the question how he ever should get out of this unearthly place again. God would take care of him!

**=== Saqqara / Present Day ===**

The VERITAS-team had reached the second underground structure they believed to be from Imhotep's time. Solomon looked around in the chamber they had just entered. Everything had the air of harmlessness, and yet everything could be a deathly trap. Of course. Too bad, Vincent wasn't here. He had that kind of an instinct; he seemed to smell danger.

"Look at this!" Calvin said, "They must've used a fluorescing compound to paint the walls. I wish I could do an analysis! Maybe it's Phosphor… And this! Really amazing!"

"You probably shouldn't touch these thingies," Nikko cut in, seeing his teammate eying one of the dozen little round metal objects on the wall right next to him. "It might trigger some trap."

"You've seen too many silly movies."

"Cal, Nikko's right. We shouldn't move further without our ancient guide!" Solomon said and turned to Juliet. "Any hints in the fragments of the manuscript?"

She browsed through the notes on her tablet pc. "There is said something about the 'safe path', but that part is not complete anymore. Many hieroglyphs are simply undecipherable. What I can tell is…'under the wings of Isis'."

Solomon pointed to the northern wall, where the picture of Isis could be seen, kneeling above a temple and spreading her wings. But there was nothing remotely looking like a pathway.

"The next hieroglyphs are for 'bread' and 'offering'."

"Let's check the wall. Maybe there's a hidden mechanism. Watch your steps." He used a leftover nano-fibre strut to clear a narrow passage in front of him from the dust and debris. An additional knock assured him that there weren't any cavities below.

Indeed, there was a mechanism, the team found out about it after half an hour. But the supposed pathway only opened for a slid barely wide enough to let them through. Maybe an earthquake had destroyed the ingenuity of the ancient engineers. After a short discussion, they agreed that Solomon and Calvin would crawl in, and the rest of the team would wait outside and organize the rescue, in case something happened.

**=== Saqqara / Anno Domini 1218 ===**

The Templar had reached the Isis-chamber as well. The air was that hot, stale and dusty he felt dizzy and had to steady himself against the wall. At least, a fat rat scurried by. So there had to be another exit… he hoped. Not paying attention where his fingers moved, he touched one of the tiny round metal shapes. A hiss filled the room, and the next second he went down, crying in pain. He crawled direction exit, more automatically than following a sentient thought. His body was one burning pain. As far as he could see, the 'whatever it had been' had left wounds similar to the ones the famous Greek Fire inflicted. He couldn't manage to get on his feet again, and so he made his way back to the pit on all fours.

…

He woke up from water splashing onto his face. He startled, moved aside quickly and stared above, from where the unwelcome greeting had come. There kneeled a man in the clothes of a native Bedouin, a lamp beside him. Out of his hands, a rope was just unfolding and falling down into the pit.

„Who are you?"

„The rescuer you just need, or am I mistaken?"

The Templar blinked and searched the strangers face for any clues about his purposes. He was no native, his features clearly told that. He was… an imposter… a spy… he was… „You're one of them, aren't you? DORNA."

„That depends on your definition." The stranger seemed to love riddles.

„I won't tell anything! I'd rather die!"

„Again?"

The question which was none, made the young Templar feel ice cold. He stared at the other man, frozen in terror. What devilish game was that?

„I heard of you while you were in the dungeon of Cairo. I assumed you were the one sent after the artifact."

[i]You have spied on us, on my order,[/i] the Templar thought, but couldn't manage to speak. Somehow, he felt like a little child who had played hide and seek with an elder brother who watched him all the time…

„Sadly, you died under torture before I had found a way to get you out of the commandant's greedy claws. But then…" The stranger leaned a bit more into the pit. „I learned about a man who had mysteriously risen from the dead near the burial place for the infidels. I know your secret. And…"

It seemed he wanted to say something different first, but then continued: „I'm here to help you. We can't retrieve the Seal now, because we don't know how to read those ancient scriptures. You can't find the clue to the truth, and I can't find it. Not now. Not YET. – Come on, grab that rope and get out! To what do you think you were chosen?"

"I wasn't! It was … an accident!" He fought for a decision and finally concluded that there was no point in sitting down here. If he wanted to DO anything again, he had to get out of this pit first. So his hands closed around the rope.

Shortly after, the Templar sat next to the stranger, who now nodded approvingly. "Good. You have a rational mind. May I ask you for your name?"

"Not until I know yours." Just in case his opposite was a demon, though, it was always better to have his name. Every child knew that!

The other man smiled. "Jean de Molay." He stretched his hand.

The Templar took a deep breath. "Vincente. Brother Vincente."


	5. Failed

**=== Near Cairo / Present Day ===**

It was one of those illegally built areas of the big city, where wonky, shabby blocks of leftover concrete plates, bricks and all sorts of other materials huddled together, housing an increasing number of men, women, children and animals. The goats and donkeys roamed through the junk piling up between the houses, and probably only God knew how the respective owners found their beasts again. The houses had no water connection, and no real toilets. The waste water ran down the alleys and – combined with rotting food rests, sharp soap and the smell of little kitchens –produced a horrible stench. The growing garbage dump around that colony completed this picture of desolation and poverty.

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The little rag-clad boy who carried a big plastic bottle just filled with water from a leaking conduit outside walked along the dusty path of the garbage dump, lost in his thoughts. He dreamt about having a rubber ball, a real one, with shiny bright colors. Unlike the ones he had picked up on the dump so far. At one corner, some junk blocked the path and the boy had to climb over it. It was then, when he saw the man lying amidst the junk. A white man, a Westerner. He looked quite dead. The boy stumbled backwards, lost his balance and fell on his backside, spilling some of his precious water over the dead stranger - who opened his eyes and obviously wasn't as dead as assumed. The boy was too surprised to scream. He stared at the man, who moaned and moved and slowly got up on his knees…

Vincent felt sick and dizzy; his body hurt as if every cell had been lacerated and stitched together again. He knew that would pass, but it was just as cruel as the two times before he had 'died'. He blinked, tried to adjust his blurry vision and now discovered the boy crouching next to him. Of course the little one was scared. One didn't witness a 'resurrection' every day! And Vincent was sure he looked terrible. "Salam…" he managed and coughed.

The boy just stared with his dark eyes.

"I was just playing. Can I… can I have some water, please?" The child stretched his arm with the bottle without a word, and Vincent took it. A bit to clean his face and arms, and a bit to drink. He was very thirsty.

"You can have it all, Sidi!"

"Thank you." He drank some more, but still it felt like the proverbial drop on the hot stone! Vincent searched in his pockets what he could give the boy in return. The DORNA guys had taken his watch, of course – a dead man didn't need a watch anymore! But deep down in one pocket, he found some Dollar bills.

The boy looked at the money for a moment, then he started to grin and finally to beam. "Now I'm going to buy me a ball, Sidi!"

Vincent smiled. If the boy wasn't robbed by some other desperate people, his family would have enough to eat for a week, in addition to a nice ball! The child climbed down, looked back one more time and waved before it started to run, the money firmly clutched in his little hand. Vincent tried to stand up, but he wasn't stable enough for that venture. He'd have to wait some more time. He shot a skeptical glance to the sky to check the position of the sun. How long had he been here? Certainly some hours. Time for DORNA to catch up with the rest of the VERITAS-team! He had to find his colleagues as soon as possible. And his clothes… in no way could he show up in the public like that! He dragged the blood stained shirt from his body, washed and rubbed as best as he could with the remaining water. He would get a nasty sunburn, but that wasn't his primary concern right now.

**=== Saqqara / Present Day ===**

Solomon and Calvin had managed to reach what they thought was the burial chamber. The strange glow on the walls was gone; it was pitch black and the flashlight their only light source. The more careful they set the steps. Cal wiped the sweat off his forehead – the climate in here was suffocating at best! But he was far too impressed to give it a conscious thought. "I walk in the tomb of the famous Imhotep!" he whispered, looking around over the engravings. "It's just… incredible!"

Solomon couldn't share this enthusiasm without remembering Vincent. He knew him, and he knew DORNA's persistence and ruthlessness. His friend wouldn't talk, and DORNA wouldn't give in. So it was very likely he was no longer alive by now. Solomon clenched his teeth. His mission, VERITAS' mission, this 'crusade' for the truth, had cost so many lives over the years! Several of his confidants had died assassinated in the race after the secrets of the Ancients, his beloved wife, and now, his closest friend! Maybe it was all wrong! Maybe he was wrong….

"There's the sarcophagus!" said Calvin, pointing ahead. The light cone clearly lit the hieroglyphs forming the name IMHOTEP, held by two winged goddesses. The titles accompanying the name were the final proof.

"And it seems… aw crap, the cover isn't in place anymore!" He walked around the large object and gave a hiss of frustration a moment later. In the cone of his flashlight appeared the fragments of the lid, which was shattered into pieces on the ground.

"Someone was here before us."

"DORNA?" Solomon stepped closer.

"Don't think so," Calvin answered, examining the broken pieces. "The breaklines aren't fresh, but just as covered with dust and spiderwebs as everything else. Whoever got in here, it was a long time ago."

Solomon bent over the open Sarcophagus, without much hope to find anything intact there, the less what he searched for. If grave robbers had broken into that crypt hundreds or thousands of years ago – He winced back. The wide open artificial eyes of a golden mummy mask had stared at him. The item was dusty as well, but now and then the flashlight let it shimmer brightly. The two researchers glanced at their find with amazement. The craftsmanship wasn't as fine as displayed in the mask of Pharao Tutanchamun – created over thousand years after this one – but it was captivating without a doubt!

"Look, isn't he actually smiling at us?" Or was the mummy laughing at them? It depended on the point of view…. And somehow Solomon was rather inclined to the latter option. Where should he look for the famous seal mentioned in the old manuscript? In Ancient times, persons of high rank used to wear seals on a band around the neck, or on the finger, of course. That meant, if it was THAT kind of a seal. But they didn't know that, did they? It could just be anything, it could be hidden anywhere… if it was still here at all!

Calvin looked up and down over the old bandages with their wrapped in amulets, and Solomon checked the floor around the sarcophagus and the sarcophagus itself. Maybe somewhere was a hidden compartment, what – please – would open without burying them in a nasty trap. Solomon could only shake his head over himself. What did he expect? The place marked with a big "X"? He had heard that joke somewhere before… In a movie, supposedly. Nikko would probably know it.

At that moment, a stifled cry reached him. Nikko!

…

The adepts of DORNA had sneaked in stealthily. Operations like that one were in their blood. Only when an arm closed around Juliet's neck and a gun was pressed against her temple, she knew they were trapped. Maggie was incapacitated as well, guarded by another henchman. Nikko yelled a warning, but was stopped by a harsh kick bringing him down.

In the dim light the three VERITAS-comrades recognized a known nemesis: Antonio de' Medici. "A little off guard?" he asked sarcastically, stepping closer. "Ah, I forgot you had to get along without the deadly Mr. Siminou."

"What have you done to him?" Juliet couldn't refrain from shouting.

"That concerned? You liked him, didn't you? I spared you a lot of trouble, my dear, believe me." Antonio was all confidence, when he tipped over Maggie's computer equipment.

Juliet's glance twitched to Nikko, who had his right hand next to a large stone. But before he could grasp it, the kick of De'Medici transported the desired weapon beyond his reach. "I wouldn't try that again, Nikko. Or do you want your friends to follow Vincent? Tell me where your father is!"

Nikko didn't answer, however De'Medici had just discovered the slid in the wall for himself. "Nice! Your usefulness has dropped dramatically, Nikko. Do you know that?"

"Yours as well."

Vincent's voice! The DORNA holding Juliet was just as surprised as she was. Without letting her go he spun around, eyes wide. Yes, the shape some meters in front of them, in one hand a flashlight, in the other an automatic weapon, belonged undoubtedly to Vincent!

"That's not possible!" cried the DORNA. "You were dead!"

"Obviously, you're not even able to properly kill someone, you idiot!" De'Medici hissed. "Maybe I should kill you instead?"

„Drop your guns!" Vincent demanded calmly.

De'Medici signaled his men not to comply. Smiling unimpressed, he addressed Vincent: „I know you are a marvelous gunfighter. But even you won't be able to shoot two men simultaneously. So if you kill one, the other ices one of the women. Which one do you choose?" De' Medici spoke as if he was on a party and debated if he should pick the cherry from his cocktail or not. His gaze wandered over Maggie and Juliet. „Well, personally, I'd take this one. She's younger."

Nothing in Vincent's face showed his emotions. He just looked in Nikko's direction. „Nikko, don't think of the Soda can!"

The young man blinked. The Soda can? Vincent's look was focused on him. He clearly wanted him to do something! Nikko had tried several times to repeat that ‚telekinetic accident', and never had it worked! He couldn't move anything, the hard he tried! Crap! Nikko felt even more sweat drop down his forehead. But wait! What did Vincent say? DON'T think! That was the key! At the margin, Nikko heard Vincent's weapon clank to the ground and one of the DORNA men laugh. _Don't think at the Soda can. _Don't think. Not directly at the object! He needed something…. Associated with it? He had been thirsty and stretched his hand after the Soda automatically. Okay. An emotion. _Hate. I hate them. I want to help my team. … It didn't work! …. I want to help Juliet. I want to free Juliet. I want-_

It happened so fast, that Nikko gasped in surprise, when the gun from Juliet's guard slipped into his hands. The man yelled something about nasty tricks, pushed Juliet down. De'Medici shot, Nikko fired at the ceiling - having no practice he thought it to be a good idea to produce some dust. But a part of the ceiling crumbled, and chaos broke loose. Through the choking dust, Nikko heard more shots, cries, curses and moans. _I've messed it up, _he thought, and the next moments, he was busy with coughing.

„Vincent - that was a rescue in the last minute!" Solomon Zond's voice could be heard. „Nikko, you're okay?" He nodded, wiped over his face and discovered that it was covered with a whole layer of dust. It burned in his eyes. Despite the tears blinding him he could discern Calvin and Maggie as well. Maggie seemed to be injured. „Where are the bad guys?"

„De' Medici escaped." Vincent replied. He kneeled at the opposite wall, helping Juliet. „His two friends have joined the Afterlife. And I hope, they'll have to face all the unpleasant things the Ancient Egyptians believed to be there."

„Did you find the seal, Dad?"

Solomon denied. „Only a papyrus, held by the mummy. I don't think the seal is still here. - We have to leave, Maggie needs a doc. - Juliet, can you walk?"

She nodded, but tried in vain to control her trembling. The last events had been a bit too much to handle for a young academician, even if it was a VERITAS-member! Despite her will to stand up, Vincent had to steady her. It felt not bad, she had to admit - being the princess just rescued by the dark mysterious hero and rest in his strong arms for a moment…

A shot echoed through the underground. With only a little moan, Vincent sank to his knees, slowly letting go off Juliet. She stared at him, just couldn't grasp what was happening. Solomon shouted something. Nikko shouted and jumped up. Calvin disarmed the one supposedly dead DORNA. Nothing really reached her; it was happening like on a screen, outside her world. The only thing inside her world was Vincent. His eyes firmly shut in pain, and the blood running over his chest. She embraced him, clasped him as if she could prevent him from falling into the abyss of death with her arms alone.

„Leave … me!" he whispered.

Juliet just held him tighter. He wouldn't die. He couldn't die! Tears ran over her face, down on his head. „I love you!" It was too late, but at least she got to say it! Her regrets and sorrow bundled in a new flood of tears. All track of time seemed lost in those few seconds. Hands grabbed her shoulder, but she couldn't move. She couldn't speak. All she could do was holding Vincent and… and…

Another hand touched her face. „I will… be … fine…"

Juliet startled. Vincent looked up to her. She was hallucinating, she was under shock! She couldn't see what she saw, and she couldn't hear what she heard! With a panicking „Nooo!" she blacked out.


	6. New Horizons

=== Near Saqqara ===

The battered VERITAS-team had found refuge in a family hotel. They had secured and hid the entrance to Imhotep's tomb as best as possible. Maybe later they would have time for a second visit and more photos and 3D-scans. For now, more urgent matters were on their mind! DORNA would not rest for sure. They might have endured a setback, but they wouldn't give up in this struggle already going on for centuries! Dr. Zond hoped that destiny would grant them at least some days to catch their breaths!

Maggie had been treated in the little emergency aid station of the museum next to the Saqqara complex. Thank God, the bullet had only scratched her arm; it looked worse than it was. However, she couldn't work and help and that irritated her. Vincent was still weak; special abilities or not, a human body could only handle a certain amount of stress. Of course they couldn't bring him to a doc.

Juliet just changed the bandage she had applied an hour ago. She caught herself avoiding to look Vincent in the eyes. It felt awkward. Every member of the team knew about a thing she had not even realized herself until that moment! And what Vincent was thinking? He hadn't said a word about that theme since he was awake again, but Juliet was sure he had heard her saying 'I love you'. Still not looking up, she closed the first aid box.

"So, you're immortal?" Nikko's incredulous question sounded through the room and interrupted the lazy _chopchop_ of the moving radiator.

_And I've pondered about the possible barricades of an age difference of 15 years! _It crossed Juliet's mind. It really hadn't been fair of life to bring her into this situation!

"No. I just … age very slowly."

"And you have some remarkable healing abilities!" added Maggie, slightly jealous at the moment.

Vincent smiled a little. "Yes I have. It was all… an accident. The other guardians had been prepared. … But not me."

=== Northern Spain / Anno Domini 1170 ===

Vincente was walking cautiously the narrow path along the deep threatening cliffs. The sun had set already and the wild mountainous landscape around him was sinking in deeper shadows with every step. He was so tired, hungry, thirsty… During the past two weeks, since he had left his father's castle in a hurry to save the Holy Grail from the invading enemy, he was barely doing anything else than walking, running and climbing. His boots were gone and his clothes partly in rags already. Would he ever manage to get his precious cargo – to disguise it he carried it simply in his bag like a normal drinking cup - to Scotland? He had promised his father, he had promised the brethren of the Templar Order…. But he felt so weak and the task was so enormous! The first part of his flight, when he had still enough reserves to think, Vincente almost couldn't believe that only a month ago, he was just like any other fourteen-year-old squire, aspiring knighthood and secretly adoring a beautiful peasant girl. He had stopped pondering about it. He needed every little bit of strength to be focused on his task!

The falling darkness made him overlook a dangerous loose stone. He slipped, fell, tried to grasp the branches of a tree rooted in the rock. But the old wood cracked and the boy dropped deeper, bumped against several rocks and trees in the gorge and finally hit the ground near the little watercourse, bleeding, unconscious and an easy prey for the wolves. Had not been Ilario the young shepherd, it would probably have ended that way.

But, searching for one of his goats, Ilario had entered the rough gorge and found not his missing animal, but an injured boy. And as the stranger had a cup lying right next to him, apparently fallen out of his bag, the young shepherd took it and fetched some water from the creek. It was not easy to get at least a little bit of water down the injured boy's throat. Ilario took refuge to his favorite Saint to provide some help in this case and save the stranger. And just when he was in the middle of his fervent prayer, he woke up indeed…

=== Hotel near Saqqara ===

…"I guess it was something in the cup," Vincent remembered. "Some kind of Nanoparticles maybe, dissolving in contact with any fluid. I never got the chance to find out. The Grail is missing since the 14th century." He leaned back against the cushions on the couch and closed his eyes. "When we were in Novia Scotia two years ago, I hoped we would find a clue eventually, but…"

Solomon nodded. They had found a precious old tablet, but the Grail itself was still missing. He placed a hand on his old friend's shoulder. He would've loved to ask more, especially why Vincent hadn't told him about this special gift. But they all needed some rest. A few hours at least. Solomon's gaze wandered over the metal capsule in which he had placed the papyrus found in the sarcophagus. Would it reveal its secrets - or would it remain shrouded in silence like his friend had been? He sensed his thoughts trail off and suppressed a yawn. Yes, they needed a couple of hours sleep, no doubt!

…

The papyrus was well preserved, that was the first thing they discovered next morning when they sat down to work. Originally, it had been part of the papyri covered with the texts from the Book of the Dead, but it had been cleared with sand and re-used for the purpose the team was about to discover.

"Judging after the scripture this could well be written at the same date as the fragments on parchment in that ancient 'Life of the Desert Fathers'," said Juliet, her eyes focused at the screen. "Maybe even written by the same person. … It's a note, left by the one who took the seal! He writes that he intends to bring it to a safe place…"

Solomon Zond's still omnipresent fatigue slowly went into retreat, and not only because the coffee kicked in. Next to him sitting on the desk, Calvin stared at her attentively. Nikko sat on the couch and didn't seem very interested in anything - but at the moment everyone was too preoccupied to notice it. Juliet was glad that Vincent was somewhere behind her. She felt still uncomfortable and was only grateful the team had other worries right now! With some effort, she turned her attention to the screen again, zoomed into the next part of the fragile papyrus lying under the scanner. "It's an itinerary. … The author uses the Graeco-Roman names … Alexandria … he intends to go by ship to… Saguntum…"

"Sagunt. That's in Spain," said Calvin. "What next?"

"Provincia Narbonensis…."

"Southern France! Quite a journey!"

"Then there's something about the 'Northern Isles, the 'end of the world'."

"The end of the Roman world?" Calvin got up and walked through the room. "Scotland. Or Ireland."

"Must've been the most desolate place for our Egyptian traveler…" Solomon mused and from his look, he was just imagining the poor guy disembarking on a cold, misty afternoon on the Green Island.

"How do we know if he made it? There are quite a lot of dangers to master on such a trip!" Cal shook his head. "I'm sorry, but this doesn't seem to give us a valid lead."

"He might have written the other text when he returned," Juliet said, but she knew herself, that this was an ardent pitch and just plain guessing. Even more extensive text research wouldn't give them a hundred percent proof, unless they found the signature and date under the texts - what was impossible, of course!

"I'm going to check for any references about Ancient Egypt and Ireland in the database," decided Maggie. "Cal, could you assist me in typing, please?"

A moment later, both team members sat in front of another laptop, linked via satellite to the database in New York. Nikko watched from the couch without bothering to look neither over Maggie's nor Juliet's shoulder. Especially not Juliet's, because the place was already occupied by Vincent!

"There are several ancient Celtic legends linking Egypt and Ireland," Maggie reported shortly after to the other team members' surprise. "The oldest manuscripts date from the Middle Ages, 8th century, but the material is older, according to some scholars, maybe pre-Christian." She searched further. "One legend claims that the Gaelic people came from Egypt via Spain, starting their exodus under Pharaoh Akhenaton. … Another tradition states, they emigrated the time of Alexander the Great. It's not a great consistency."

"These legends could be formed on real events," Solomon said. "Juliet, when do you think our two hieroglyphic texts have been written?"

"Hard to say." She sighed and ran her fingers through her hair, more nervous because Vincent stood next to her than because she didn't know what to answer. "Between the 2nd century B.C. and in any case the 4th A.D., because that time, the parchment was reused by the monks."

"Maybe the author tried to save the artifact from the destruction by fanatic Christians. They burned the library of Alexandria, after all."

"That makes sense. He transports it to a place he thinks the new religion will never reach because it is still outside the Roman culture," added Solomon, deep in thoughts already. "Ireland. But… WHERE?"

_Ireland,_ Vincent repeated in his mind. What a great dramatic joke of destiny! To get this seal of Imhotep, he had traveled from Scotland to France and finally to Egypt, he had endured months of hardships, battles, sickness, torture; he had ended making a pact with the devil's henchmen themselves - And all the time the seal had been hidden only the distance of a few day trips away! Juliet lifted her hand from the mouse. Her fingers trembled slightly and he closed his hand around hers for a moment. Just to transmit her that everything was okay. Well, as okay as it could be under these more than crazy circumstances! Juliet pulled her hand away and pretended to have something urgent to check for in the recent scan. Vincent didn't mind. He could imagine how she felt. He'd need some time with her to speak. However, such privacy was not on the agenda, it seemed. Still they were in a deadly race after an artifact with unknown powers!

"…that our work here is done for now," Solomon's voice broke into Vincent's thoughts. "We should leave. Vincent, you feel well enough?"

He nodded, his mind still with Juliet and their problem.

"Good, I call the airport. I hope we can have a liftoff tonight."

"Okay." That was Nikko. When his father turned around, he was already at the door. "I'm down in the snack bar and grab something to eat!" Without waiting for an answer, he was out. Solomon raised his brows - only now noticing that his otherwise so curious son hadn't asked anything and seemed not interested in their quest anymore. His view crossed Maggie's who had that particular 'I know' - look and gave him a wise smile.

…

Nikko sat in a corner, munched a wobbly sandwich without appetite and brooded about life. Vincent and Juliet? This was the most impossible thing he could imagine – and in fact, he could imagine a lot! Okay, he and Juliet had never 'officially' been a couple; he had never mentioned anything of that sort. But hey – one could dream! And he had dreamt a lot, to be honest. And now his best friend had snatched HIS girl!

_C'mon, what do you want with him_, Nikko argued with Juliet in his mind, though he knew he would never say anything like this aloud. _Vincent is sleeping with a gun under his pillow! And wearing a Kevlar vest! _ Nikko tossed the rest of the sandwich into the trash bin.


	7. The next step

**=== On board Solomon Zond's Private Jet ===**

They were in the air for one hour now. Vincent sat down on the floor of his little cabin, let his hands rest palms upwards on his crossed legs and prepared for meditation.

_One… two… three…four… you're in control…five…six… in complete control…_

Training with all kinds of arms had kept his body ahead of his enemies most of the time in the past centuries, but it had been meditation that kept his mind ahead of the invisible enemies like desperation and fear. Of course he had experienced troubled times where it had been difficult to find the necessary concentration. Today was one of them. His mind was partly with Juliet and he couldn't manage to detach…

_One…two…_

He had decided two years ago never to tell her about his feelings. With his past - well, 'past' was a little understatement, wasn't it? - he wasn't exactly a good match! And then, there were his orders, his mission to protect the VERITAS team. He was supposed to provide safety for every member of the team, and not allow himself to get distracted because he cared for one member too much!

_One… two…three…four… five…You're calm. You're in control…_

Vincent had never thought Juliet would share his feelings. No one knew - except Maggie. He didn't know how she had figured out, but she had. There was this aura of a wise shaman about her; maybe it was in her African blood. But his secret had been safe with her; never would she have compromised him. And now? Everything had changed that moment in the tomb of Imhotep. Not the course of the world yet, as they had expected, but his own life!

Vincent stopped counting. It was of no use. He had to sort this out first, before he was ready for meditation. With that decision, he left his cabin and knocked at Juliet's door.

…

Juliet had been reading in a work about Imhotep, written by a Hungarian scholar, but the hum of the plane's engines had made her sleepy. She had just closed her eyes and leaned back, when she heard the knock at her door.

"May I come in?" She heard Vincent ask.

"Yes. Of course!"

Her heart started racing and her hands were suddenly cold. For sure he would say her some decent, wise words now… something polite giving her the chance to save her face… Contrary to her hands, her cheeks began to feel burning hot.

For an awkward moment, Vincent and Juliet stood face to face without moving. Her mind was a huge bleakness, not a single thought could form.

Then, Vincent smiled. "It has been a while since someone told me she loved me."

He stepped up to her, took her in his arms. Sensing her tears, he whispered. "One of my teachers once said to me, often you may find your way blocked and see no way out. But when you just go another step, you'll realize that it's nothing but a sharp turn ahead of you," he said. "I'm willing to go."

He glanced down at her, and Juliet looked up. "I'm willing to go too, but-"

"Then there will be no 'but'. We will find a way, our way."

"Why didn't you tell anything, Vincent?"

"I couldn't, Juliet. Believe me, I wished I could have told Solomon … and you… and the rest of the team. But it's like a Domino game - when the first stone falls, all the others will follow. And there's too much at stake."

**=== A castle in France / 1225 ===**

The visitor had crossed the bridge and rode on towards the forest, when the arrow pierced his back and he fell down into the thorny bushes.

Back at the castle, behind a narrow window, Vincent let his crossbow sink. His features barely hid his contempt. "I wasn't trained to be a killer!"

A man stepped out of the shadows of the dark room. Jean de Molay. "It was for a greater good, Vincent." He glanced over the bridge toward the dark line of the forest behind the morning mist. "Remember what I've told you about killing the hydra? You have to fool her, so she swallows the poison and you can destroy her from within."

Vincent stayed silent. His mentor had told him, yes. But there were times - and right now it was one of those - when he doubted Molay's goals, doubted his words, and doubted his own choices. Did he make a pact with a demon and was slowly becoming the devil's right hand? Sometimes he felt like a figure in a chess match… pushed around following a plan he didn't know. Molay answered one of his questions - and a dozen new ones popped up.

Vincent was still pondering about his ultimate fate, when the door opened and a young maid appeared, announcing with a reverential bow that the morning meal was ready. As he was used to from his time with the Templar brethren, Vincent turned his gaze to the floor. Only when the clapping wooden shoes told him that the girl was on her way back, he looked up again.

Molay smiled and patted his young companion's shoulder.

"Your religious vows have been nullified, remember. You might as well look at a pretty girl."

_Nullified, _Vincent repeated in his thoughts. DORNA had paid someone in Rome who knew a member of the curia, and so on… Was his dispense even valid? He had to stop thinking about it… However, he couldn't. He was caught in a web that seemed to become denser with every day. And maybe even the simplest human pleasures were denied to him …. Not only for a lifetime because he had religious vows, but for an ETERNITY! Or what would happen if he touched a woman? The gift of the Holy Grail keeping him a young man for about thirty years now - would it spread like a contagious disease, become a curse to more people than just him? Vincent punched against the castle's stony wall and closed his eyes. He couldn't fulfill his mission - whatever this mission was - with that much rage inside. He needed to become calm. He took a deep breath and started with the exercise one of his lost Templar brothers had taught him.

_One… two … three… Ave Maria gratia plena adjuva me… four… five… six…_

**=== Unknown Place / Present time ===**

The light was installed that ingeniously in the round underground chamber that the faces of the council-members remained in complete darkness. No one knew who sat next to him; and the voices were contorted by a sophisticated system as well. Only the features of one person in that hall were discernable: Antonio de'Medici, standing in the middle of the council.

"Zond hasn't found anything," De'Medici reported.

"However he's still after something," a member of the council answered icy. "We've tracked him to England."

"I'm sure he's after the Seal of Imhotep," another voice said. "If he finds it, all other pieces of the great puzzle we've gathered so far, will be useless."

"It is said the Seal will reconnect what was separated…" A female voice came from the round.

"It's a space-time-bender. And we must prevent Zond from getting it by all means."

"I will succeed this time," De'Medici promised.

**=== Cambridge / England / Present time ===**

Solomon had arranged with an old friend from study times that Maggie could use his lab equipment at the biotech-research facility of Cambridge University. While she was busy testing the blood sample she had taken from Vincent, Solomon grasped the opportunity for a chat with his son. Nikko worried him, but his father had no idea what was going on within the boy. He assumed it had something to do with the events in Egypt, and the unusual abilities Nikko had shown there…

"You know, Nikko, whatever has happened there, whatever you've done there - I'm proud of you and you'll always stay my son," Solomon said, dropping down next to Nikko on the bench in the corridor leading to the lab. The boy remained silent and his father continued: "You have an amazing gift. We don't know yet how you got it, but there are many things we don't know yet. That doesn't mean we, or I, are afraid of them. I'm not afraid of you. I don't see you as a dangerous alien!" He smiled and gently kicked his son against the shoulder, hoping to cheer him up a bit. "We'll work this out, don't you think?"

"Okay Dad." It didn't sound very convincing, and turning his baseball cap in his hands, Nikko rather gave the impression of someone massively unnerved.

Solomon sighed silently and put a hand on his son's shoulder. "Maybe you'd like talking to Vincent?"

Nikko snorted and stood up.

A moment passed until he had calmed down sufficiently and could at least answer: "Dad, just skip it. I just… don't feel like talking. That's all."

With that, he marched out of sight.

…

Maggie looked up from the Scanning Electron Microscope in front of her and turned to Vincent. "Well, there's definitely something in your blood. Look at this!" She retrieved the just checked sample on the connected computer screen. "Do you see these little cone shaped objects? I have never seen anything like that. They react to outside stimuli and seem to possess some sort of intelligence. But the electrons can't penetrate them. It's as if they are… shielded in some way."

Vincent looked at the innocent tiny objects on the screen. So that was what his almost-immortality looked like? His curse and divine grace? It was almost pathetic… "Hello my little tyrants," he said.

"Can they be deactivated somehow?" Juliet asked.

"I wouldn't dare that," Maggie replied. "That's sophisticated nanomachinery we don't know anything about. Any attempt to deactivate these thingies might kill Vincent."

Sadness settled on Juliet's face like dark clouds over a beautiful landscape. She tried to master the reaction but didn't succeed completely.

Vincent put his arms around her. Juliet felt still a bit strange in showing their affection in front of others, after everything the team went through as colleagues. But everyone acted naturally as if it was the most normal thing in the world to see them together.

"I told you we'll find a way, we just need to take another step and we mustn't lose faith," he said.

"Faith in what? I'm just not… not a religious person."

He smiled. "In destiny, in the great plan of the universe – call it what you want. Important is that you go on."

**=== Dublin / Ireland / Two weeks after the events in Egypt ===**

Solomon, Calvin and Juliet sat in the huge solemn reading room of the National Library, surrounded by various books, ancient and modern ones, opened and closed. Vincent stood at a strategic point, seemingly studying the books in the shelf in front of him, but in reality keeping a watchful eye on every entering person. So far, the team hadn't found any new clues leading to the wanted Seal of Imhotep. Every time they thought to have a track, it turned out to be a dead end. Solomon had contacted two of his old scholar friends, but they weren't able to provide new insight as well. A lot of places in Ireland were connected to mythical powers or strange legends, but not in the way the VERITAS-team searched for.

Solomon paused and let his gaze wander over his companions. All those past years he had hunted for precious artifacts, and often he hadn't succeeded. But two priceless things he had found for sure: friendship and trust. Perhaps… that was the final truth the Ancients wanted the humans to find? Only his son worried him. Nikko was still moody and grumpy. Well, seemed to become a test of how good he was in his role as father! Could he solve the mystery of his son, or only mysteries left behind by the Ancients?

"Solomon, I think we've made a mistake," whispered Calvin, looking up from the giant book he was browsing through and leaned over the table. "We searched in Ireland, because our Egyptian friend announced to take this route. But a large part of the old Celtic tribes immigrated to Scotland at the end of the Roman era. Among them the Dál Riata. And… guess what they took with them!"

He shoved the opened book in Solomon's direction. On top of the page, a colorful 18th century drawing showed some people carrying an altar or a stone. "The famous 'Stone of Scone'!"

"The magical crowning stone of the Scottish kings!" Juliet added and stood up to take a closer look at the page.

"Is not the stone said to be the gift of an Egyptian princess?"

Calvin smiled proudly. "Indeed. It's the legend I just read here: Princess Scota, the daughter of an Egyptian Pharaoh, married Mil the general. When they sailed to the new lands with the Dal Riata, they took with them the holy stone from the heart of wisdom."

"Do you think the Stone is the Seal?"

"Hm… maybe it's hidden within?"

That was the moment, when a warning look from the librarian nearby grazed the group. Silence!

…

Late in the evening the team returned to the hotel, already discussing how they could approach the famous "Stone of Scone", which – unfortunately – lay in Edinburgh in a high security vault together with the crown jewels! In addition they had to be careful not to initiate too many persons, because the more people knew something, the faster DORNA would be on their heels again!

When they entered the hotel floor with their rooms, Juliet discovered a present in front of her door. It was a rather large rectangular box, and on top a separately wrapped flower bouquet. Surprised she turned around into Vincent's direction, who – surprising her even more – shook his head.

"As lovely as I find this idea, the present doesn't come from me."

Juliet hesitated a moment. But DORNA wouldn't place a bomb in a flower box, would they? No, probably not, this wasn't their style! She took the present and carried it into her room, where she unwrapped it, surrounded by the curious rest of the team. The box turned out to be an old book. Juliet could hardly believe what she saw…

"My God, that's the first edition of the "Description de'l Egypte" from 1809! That must've cost a fortune!"

"You must have a wealthy admirer," Vincent said with a smile.

Juliet felt embarrassed even though. "I really have no idea where that comes from!"

"Hi guys, anything up?" Nikko had just entered, his sport's suitcase over the shoulder. He had left the library in the afternoon to go into a nearby gym. As his father noticed, the exercises seemed to have improved his mood quite a bit. But when Nikko's view crossed Vincent's, Vincent discovered something new in the youngster's eyes; a determined dark shade, that convinced him to know exactly the anonymous donator of that gift.

(PS: The Celtic legends connecting Ireland to Ancient Egypt do exist for real. The legend about the Stone of Scone as well. The name "Scota" is mentioned in the legend, and after her Scotland is said to be named.)


	8. Choices

(I hope no one is confused with all these time jumps…. )

**=== Edinburgh / Present time ===**

Dr. Zond and his team had moved into a house, normally reserved for foreign exchange students. But at the moment, the four residents were in vacation and Solomon's old friend from the Freemason's Lodge still owed him something…

The house was not that big, however it had a little fitness room installed in the basement. Nikko had been there already a while ago, doing some boxing, when Vincent showed up. "Dad sent you, right?" Nikko asked without stopping his angry punching. "Tell him I'm fine!"

"No one sent me. I'm here because I want to talk to you."

Nikko attacked further as if he hadn't heard anything. But Vincent knew very well that he had understood him. "Life is unpredictable, Nikko. Like an untamed river. It can change its course all of a sudden, and force us to adapt. We-"

"Stop with that kind of preaching! I'm no little kid anymore!"

He had turned around to Vincent, who now reacted swift and fast and had the youngster pinned against the wall easily. That fact annoyed Nikko even more.

"You are no little kid anymore?" repeated Vincent. "Good. Then I'll talk to you man to man! You're moody because of Juliet. You're jealous."

That hit the center and Nikko needed a moment before he could at least blurt: "So what?"

"I love her. Enough I would have let her go, if that had been her choice. But she made another."

"And YOU weren't particular reluctant to accept it!" Nikko scowled at his once-best-friend. He felt awful. Angry, deceived, hurt and left behind all at once. It was just not fair! First he lost his Mom, then his girl and his friend!

Vincent understood perfectly what was going on within the boy; he was not so unlike from himself at that age. But talking wouldn't achieve very much. He needed to come through that unruly water of life's river alone! There was only so much help he could offer…

"You want a fair chance? A fight with me? Go on!" Vincent grabbed the other pair of boxing gloves.

Nikko snorted frustrated. "What chance do I have against you? You're always faster, smarter, stronger - two feet ahead of me!" He tossed his own gloves to the ground.

That moment, Solomon entered. Focused on the news he had and the task they were working on, he missed the tension between his son and his friend.

"Good news! My old friend MacNamara pulled some strings and we'll get the Stone of Scone for research into a lab at the University. From tomorrow on for 12 hours."

"Great," managed Nikko.

Vincent's facial expression didn't change much, but for him this was not new.

In any case, Solomon didn't notice anything unusual. "I guess I'll see you both for dinner?" Without waiting for an answer, he was out of the door again, his mind already busy with the preparations for tomorrow.

Nikko sighed and grabbed a towel. "I'm under the shower!"

"One thing," Vincent held him back and got an annoyed glance. "Watch your steps despite your anger."

The youngster shrugged and marched off.

**==== Edinburgh / A hotelroom ===**

It was a luxurious suite in an upper class hotel, expensive enough no one asked any questions about the man who had rented the suite yesterday. Discretion was top priority here. Of course this included extensive security precautions – necessary when Middle Eastern Sheiks or African warlords chose to stay in here. But neither guards with dogs nor security cameras and fences were a match for Vincent Siminou, who just climbed into the room, tearing a black stealth mask from his face.

"Good evening, Jean," he said.

"Impressive as usual," De Molay said. "I should have expected something like that after you called."

Vincent took a seat in one of the chairs and came straight to the point. "I won't allow any innocent dead this time."

De Molay looked at him, no reaction betraying his thoughts. "We were never that close before, my friend."

"Close to what? Finding the ultimate truth or destroying the hydra?"

"You know that both things are but one." De Molay stood up, walked to the window and looked outside.

"Maybe we have lost our perspective just as well as DORNA has."

"We are DORNA, Vincent. We are one part of the giant knot I'm about to cut once and forever. We can't always watch out for collateral damage. What has to be done, has to be done."

**=== Paris – France / 1314 A.D. ===**

"What has to be done has to be done?" Vincent swirled around in shouting this, facing the other man in the room with fuming anger. "You sacrificed them! You sacrificed one of your own family and HUNDREDS of other innocent people!"

Jean de Molay didn't say a word. From the outside, the noise of the multitude of people that had gathered around the place of execution sounded up to them. But at least the cries of the two men burned at the stake had died. However, the air was still full of the disgusting smell of burned human flesh.

That morning, the king had ordered the execution of Jacques de Molay, former head of the Order of the Templars, and one of his officers. It was the final dramatic act in the hideous play the king had launched eight years ago. The once so famous and renowned Order of the Knights Templar had been accused of heresy and various other depravations. The church, which should have been the brethren's protector, left them mostly alone, pressed and blackmailed by the king, who tried to get his hands on the fabulous treasures and secrets of the Templars that way. Two years ago, the pope had abolished the Order formally, after hundreds of its members had died in the dungeons of the Christianity they had once defended. And now, king Philip the Fair had drawn the decisive final line.

"It was necessary to lure the king and his greedy toadies away from the things that are ours."

"You are a liar! You are a greedy bastard yourself!" Vincent drew his dagger and was almost ready to slice the other man's throat. He had once been a member of this now murdered Order, and a part of him had always kept the ancient promises made 130 years ago.

De Molay stared at the tip of the blade, then lifted his eyes up to meet Vincent's glare. His voice was cold and even, when he said: "We are in the royal chamberlain's rooms. If you kill me, you are a dead man yourself. And the grace of the Grail can't help you, when they burn you."

A moment passed. Vincent inhaled deeply. Then he let sink his blade. "Once I wondered if I had made I pact with the devil," he whispered. "Now I know."

"Jacques de Molay and his Templars made the wrong choices at the wrong time. He should have used his brain rather than trust in God! - We are both brothers, Vincent. Try to look past your anger. We both drank from the Grail. We have to fulfill our part in the Great Plan, the more after they," He gestured outside, "have failed."

"The Grail doesn't make brothers of us." Vincent walked aside. "You drank because you were eager to BE part of that Great Plan, you were eager to know more, do more than what a man normally should do. I was just a boy. I didn't want that … 'gift'."

He looked out of the window and wished he would have died alongside his former brethren.

**=== Edinburgh / Present time ===**

Vincent was checking the background of the police officers who should provide protection during the examination of the Stone of Scone. One could never know! And so he used some not quite legal methods to extract information from databases and records. Solomon stood next to the window, watching the busy life outside on that rainy day.

"We've never been that close," he said pensively. "Since the day Haley died… I still miss her! And the hardest thing is that I haven't even a grave; I have nothing. She just … " He shook his head. He knew he shouldn't ponder about these events anymore, but they forced themselves back into his mind. He was afraid to lose someone else.

Vincent put his hand on Solomon's arm. "Maybe she is not so far away from us as it seems. In a lot of cultures the dead remain part of the living world. They've merely reached another level of existence."

"I try to remind me of this, but it's … hard sometimes."

"I know."

**==== South America / 1990 ===**

Vincent put the night vision gear away and slid down over the lush greenery of the slope to the digging site. During the past weeks, Haley's team had freed much of the ancient crumbled temple from the jungle plants and earth. Now, in the darkness, the building stood like a stony demon with gaping mouth; a doomsday demon. Vincent was watching the archeologists all along, reporting the progress to his DORNA intermediary as well as to Jean de Molay. The task was as difficult as usual, but he had acquired certain skills in the meantime and was confident his duplicity couldn't be detected. However this time, Vincent had a third front he was fighting on, and a forbidden one.

He found Haley not far from her tent, about to pack her technical gear. Before she could scream or make any other kind of betraying noise, he had seized her and dragged into the dark, shielding jungle.

"You are crazy!" she hissed, angry that he had surprised her again like that. She had promised herself the times before she would be more vigilant. But it was fruitless!

"You have to stop that, Vincent or I'll get a heart attack one day!"

"You have to stop your work," he answered.

Haley couldn't see his face, but his voice made clear enough that the situation was deadly serious. She was thrilled, anxious and excited all at once. "What is in here DORNA doesn't want me to recover?"

"I wish I could tell you."

She grabbed his arms. "What is it?"

"You have to stop and get out!"

Haley made a frustrated huff. "Solomon and I, we're searching for that long! I can't—"

"It's too dangerous. It's too soon!" Vincent almost forgot to keep the low level of his voice. "Don't you trust me anymore?"

"Just tell me the truth, Vincent!"

For a long moment, nothing but the sounds of the jungle and their own breathing was heard.

"It is thought to exist… a place where someone could get … lifted away, spirited away, as some legends tell," he finally replied. "Dragged into… another dimension, another reality. I don't know. But I've seen hints that this might be the place, Haley."

"And your mysterious mentor wants me to stay safe and sound?"

"My mentor wants you to continue by all means. I'm supposed to make sure you weren't deterred by DORNA's threats. But there are more important things!"

"More important things than the truth? Mankind—"

"What about love? What about Solomon and Nikko?"

"What I do, I do also for them!" He saw the particular kind of obsession in her eyes. "You can't hold me back!"

Yes, Vincent knew that now. And he didn't make any attempt to do so. He just stood there hidden in the dark jungle and watched Haley walk over the digging site. The regret only came later…

**=== Edinburgh / Present time ===**

Vincent had never told Solomon about that last encounter with his wife. Sometimes it was better to keep the truth hidden. Solomon loved Haley that much, and now she was gone and there was no need to tarnish the memory. Both men stood there at the window, lost in their own thoughts about the same past. But suddenly, a figure moving away from the house caught Solomon's attention.

"That's Nikko!"

Vincent was wide awake the same second. "I'll fetch him!" He run out, grabbed his jacked in the floor and was out of the door a moment later. No one was supposed to leave the house in the next hours, for safety reasons. Of course Nikko knew that, but obviously he was about to test his limits a bit and get himself some attention.

Vincent had gained on him at the next corner. "What were you thinking?"

"Get off my back! I don't need a babysitter!"

"Listen to me now! The differences between you and me are one thing. But endangering the lives of other team mates or jeopardize this mission is another! I won't tolerate that."

Hearing that, Nikko narrowed his eyes. "And what exactly are you going to do? Lay me in chains?"

Vincent only looked at him. He wouldn't lose the boy as he lost Haley. He wouldn't do the same mistake twice. He had his hand still on Nikko's shoulder, when the expression in the youngster's face changed and he whispered in surprise: "There's someone climbing up our roof! "

Vincent swirled around, but whatever Nikko had seen, it was gone now.

"It wasn't a joke! I saw someone!"

"Let's get back! Hurry!"

Vincent sprinted ahead, realizing it had been a mistake not to take his cellphone along. Whoever that intruder was, he could do a lot of damage within the next seconds!


	9. Homing in

**==== Edinburgh / Campus ====**

"Try to block the route through the garden! I'll get up on the roof!"

Nikko was already running.

"Be careful, remember your training!" Vincent shouted after him, sprinting the last meters ahead to the house over the wet grass. Almost elegantly, he climbed over the window ledge of the ground floor to the wooden flower grid attached over the front door. Then he grasped the gutter and dragged himself up on the flat roof. Drawing his gun, he quickly looked around - the area seemed to be clear. Nonetheless, he crossed the open space ducked down and was in cover behind the chimney some seconds later. From there, he could see the eastern wall of the house and the window to the atelier - the place where their equipment was stored. The window was open and the by now wet curtain flapped in the rainy wind.

That meant the installed security system had been compromised! Vincent didn't consider the plan to climb down and into the room via that open window. It would've been far too risky; he would've been exposed to possible hostile fire for too long.

He pulled back to the glass ceiling covering a part of the atelier. And right, he could spot a masked, black clad figure moving suspiciously in there. No time to think about a strategy any longer! Vincent dragged his jacket over the head to get a basic protection, and then took a short run before leaping right into the glass.

He landed in the atelier amidst a hail of shards. The enemy however, was too fast, and Vincent's bullet only grazed his arm, when he jumped out of the window. He was behind him with two large steps, but the black clothes made the stranger melt into the darkness all too quickly. Vincent cursed.

Out of the rain, Nikko showed up. But the intruder was definitely gone.

Behind Vincent, the door of the atelier opened and a terrified Maggie looked around, followed by Solomon and Juliet. "What's happening here? Vincent?"

"We had a surprise guest," he answered. "Nikko spotted him from the street. Unfortunately, he escaped."

"DORNA?" Solomon asked.

"Most likely. A professional in any case."

"Are you okay?" Juliet stepped up to him and gently brushed some shards off his sleeve, giving the tiny cuts in his right hand a worried look. She might know it was nothing serious in his case, but she couldn't help herself. At least, he didn't mind her worries, but shortly smiled at her. "I need a new jacket, I suppose."

"Obviously, the guy was after our computers," Maggie said while checking the equipment arranged on the tables. "But he hadn't time enough to complete his scheme."

"And there wasn't time either to download anything," added Solomon, "thanks to Vincent."

"Thanks to Nikko," Vincent clarified, as the boy just showed up in the door, getting rid of his rain soaked pullover. "He was the one who noticed the movement on our roof."

Nikko glanced at Vincent and clearly felt uncomfortable getting that praise by him. He shrugged and turned away again, mumbling something about getting dry clothes. Juliet and Vincent exchanged a look, but the rest of the team was too preoccupied with the imminent problems.

Solomon checked some other items stored in a portable safe-deposit box. They had brought with them all the so far collected parts of the "Ring of Truth"; on one hand, because the items were safer under their guard, on the other, because the "Seal of Imhotep" was said to be some sort of power source to exactly that ring. The safety seals of the box were untouched. Solomon breathed a sigh of relief. This had been just in time! He got to his feet again and looked in the gaping hole in the glass ceiling. But what the heck was he supposed to tell his old friend, who had allowed them to live here for free?

"We should transfer all the equipment down into the library," Maggie suggested, and Solomon agreed. "And then, we'll keep watch in turn."

…

It was past midnight and Solomon entered the library to take over from Vincent. He thought the quiet hour to be perfect to exchange some words in a personal matter: Nikko.

"You managed to get through to him?"

Vincent nodded. "It's as serious as it can be." The words painted fear over Solomon's features, and Vincent added with a little smile, patting his friend's shoulder: "He's in love, and I happened to get in the way of his romantic ambitions."

Solomon sighed, both out of relief and embarrassment. "I always thought Nikko had a crush on that girl from Avalon!"

"Well, such things change fast for someone his age. And Juliet told me he was always sort of admiring her."

Solomon walked on and off, a bit overwhelmed. He had no experience to deal with those kinds of problems, moreover just now!

"We need to give him some time," Vincent continued, "and room to cool off. But he'll be fine, Solomon."

…

Juliet knew she should better get some sleep, but too many things swirled around in her head. The Stone of Scone, DORNA, and Nikko… She sighed and was about to stand up, when Vincent entered.

"I just can't settle down," she apologized, yawning nonetheless.

"But you should rest and relax," Vincent answered and put his arms around her. "You'll need your strength and concentration for tomorrow!"

"I know… I'm too excited, that's the point! What will we find tomorrow; what will happen? I can't stop thinking about the accident Haley died in. We don't know what we're dealing with, we're just children turning the ignition key in Daddy's car!" Juliet smiled weakly. She was aware that Vincent shared her concerns, but the final decision was up to Solomon. And… maybe not even to him, but the circumstances and DORNA forcing him to act! "And… ", she ended her list of worries, "I feel bad about Nikko. He's a nice boy."

"Don't do that. It's not your fault, it's just life." Vincent caressed her arms and became aware that she was freezing. He grabbed the blanket and wrapped it around her. "Nikko is young, strong and smart; he will grow with that experience. This may sound rude, but I know what I'm talking about. It's hard to see your best pal snatching the girl of your dreams, but you can't change life."

"It happened to you as well?" Juliet asked, slightly surprised because she always had considered Vincent above such problems. "You were in love with your best friend's girl?"

He made a face, realizing that for one time in his life, he had talked too much, only to dissipate her worries! And now, of course, the curious (and maybe a bit jealous now) young woman she was, wanted to know the details! "Who was she?"

"My asset. She was on DORNA's watchlist; I had to track her, make contact with her. Well, I did and thought she might be the one I could confide in, tell everything. It was the first time after a very long time I seriously thought about that. But… she fell in love with another one."

**=== Rome, Italy / 20 years earlier ===**

Solomon Zond, the new assistant of archeological celebrity Marbotti, was very excited, and for one time not because of a find or an article to prepare! Today was the day to make "it" official! He would walk with his fiancée over the campus and into the lecture hall, and everyone would see what a gorgeous woman he was lucky to find! After that, he would take her to dinner and ask some important questions… Solomon felt as if he had just uncovered the treasure of Tutanchamun and the kings of Troy all at once. He felt like a king himself. This morning, Haley had said she loved him. What a wonderful day, what a wonderful world! He absolutely had to share his joy with his best friend, before Haley showed up, or he would explode! He couldn't wait one moment longer!

There he was, looking twice over his shoulder as usual – Vincent was a weird person sometimes! But he had saved his life a year ago on a dig site in Egypt, so Solomon didn't ask what exactly his dark friend was studying here... He knew an awful lot of stuff, but he never saw him in any lectures.

"Hello Vincent! How are you?"

They embraced, and Solomon thought it might come in handy one day to visit a fitness studio as well…

"You seem to be in great mood! What happened? Got a post graduate scholarship?"

Solomon beamed. "I want you to meet the most wonderful, intelligent, determined and beautiful woman in the world, my fiancée Haley!"

The happy announcement hit Vincent like shock. He needed all his self-control to keep up his composure. Thank God, the need to answer something was spared him, because that moment, Haley appeared under the portico of the lecture hall. She waved to both of them, hurried closer and greeted Solomon with a kiss, before hugging Vincent.

"Vincent, what are you doing here?"

"You know each other?" Solomon was surprised.

"'Course we do. Vincent is a good friend of mine, who" – she grinned and boxed him playfully – "always likes to scare me! – But I wasn't aware you know him, too! What a kismet do I have? The two most awesome men of the University both at my side!"

Solomon laughed, feeling a bit abashed at this statement, and then suddenly he remembered there was something else: "Oh God, crap! My lecture!"

**==== Edinburgh / Campus / Present day ====**

"Is she someone I know?" Juliet asked.

"What does it matter?" Vincent hugged her tightly. "But the events back then made me realize that some decisions in my life were long overdue. And in the end, they let me find my true match, my true love, you, Juliet. – Now I think, you should really try to relax a little!"

He bedded her back into the cushions and leaned in. "I have something in mind that might help you."

She sighed. "I'm too fidgety for any mediation right now, I'm afraid."

"I wasn't exactly thinking of meditation," Vincent answered grinning, and now, that she finally grasped where this was heading to, she blushed. Obviously, scientists tended to overlook things of mundane character! She felt a bit silly.

"Unless…" he continued still smiling and caressing her hair, "you want to wait until we are rightfully married? I'm used to vows of chastity."

Juliet hesitated, suddenly not quite able to think straight. There was 'tomorrow' again, with its big unknown! Maybe they would die; something would snatch them away like Haley back then! And… oh, Vincent could be so seductive… just as effectively as dangerous. "I don't think I am," she answered, embracing him.

**==== Old industrial area outside of Edinburgh ====**

Jean de Molay had had that specific feeling, when he had been summoned to that secret rendezvous. Now, the vague allusion had become a reality. He sensed the presence of the other man in his back even before he could hear his voice.

"Don't turn around."

Molay knew better than to try that. For sure he would be hit by a poisoned arrow the next second and wake up without any memory. That was DORNA's specialty! So he just stared through the window with the broken glass out into the junk filled yard of the old factory.

"I've been more and more worried about you these days, Jean."

"My loyalty to DORNA is unbroken."

"No one questioned your loyalty," the other man answered. His voice was soft, almost greasy. "Did you mention it for a specific reason, my friend?"

Molay remained silent. Every word could turn against him like a sharp dagger.

"Well, now that you've brought it up… I think indeed there's time you give the council a proof of your faith in the mission. Not that I think you might falter, no, never that would cross my mind. But… you know how people are… anxious to have signs, proofs … miracles…"

"What do you want?"

"Vincent Siminou."

No visible reaction betrayed what Molay felt that moment.

His mysterious companion continued: "He's getting obnoxious. He sabotaged several of our missions since his defection. Several of our men feel severely … pissed off by him."

"You said it yourself. He's no longer under our command. How am I supposed to get close to him?"

"I'm sure you'll come up with something."

**==== Edinburgh / Campus ====**

The next morning started with sunshine – and dipped in orange two faces that were already red from the angry shouting at each other.

"You were late for your turn! Half an hour!" repeated Calvin.

"So what? You're playing big boss again and bathing in your importance?" answered Nikko.

"You just need to learn responsibility! You can't always be the cool hero who saves the day! There are some minor—"

"You're simply jealous because it was me who spotted that intruder yesterday!"

Cal huffed. "I'm certainly not in need to be jealous of YOU!"

"Aw, Mr. Harvard-Professor?"

-"Cool it!" Juliet had entered. "Stop that fighting!"

Cal shrugged. "I don't fight with kids anyway."

Nikko snorted a last comment, visibly trying to pull himself together in front of Juliet.

"We have to get ready; the transport is waiting! Come on and lend us a hand!"

With several large steps, Nikko was at her side. Behind them, Calvin shook his head and eventually followed them.

Outside, the armored transport that should bring the team and their precious artifacts to the lab was waiting, surrounded by a police task force. Vincent didn't want to rely on them, of course. He walked right next to the sealed container with the elements of the 'Ring', his eyes scanning the surroundings, and his hands next to his firearms. Nothing happened, though. Everyone took place inside the vehicle, plus two police officers, and the transport rolled on, some police on motorbikes providing escort.

Juliet glanced at Vincent, who sat opposite to her, the box firmly under his protection. She would have loved to have more time alone with him this morning; a quiet cozy breakfast… but of course that hadn't been possible. When she had woken up, he had already been down in the library, supervising the planned security details. And now, a short smile from the distance was all she could get. However it was enough to confirm her, she had made the right choice. Whatever would happen today, they would find their way…

"We're not driving to the University's laboratory?" Calvin realized, turning toward Solomon with a flash of panic in his eyes.

"Relax. No. That was just a rumor we planted, in case DORNA spied on us."

"They surely did," said Vincent.

"The Stone of Scone has been brought secretly to the laboratory of the new Particle Accelerator. We'll perform the check up there, down in the old mining facility."

**==== An old country estate not so far away ===**

The frail man with his thin hair, who stood amidst the well arranged and polished Georgian interior of this estate's living room looked more like a pensioner in a retirement home than one of DORNA's top leaders. Only his voice, hard, sharp and commanding, made that authority graspable.

"Status?"

The other man, so far hidden in the shadows and sitting in front of a laptop computer, now raised his head. It was Antonio de'Medici. "The transport is on its way North. We have someone up in an helicopter following them."

"Excellent work."

"Siminou almost got me this time."

"Soon, you'll get him. - I trust you with this. Don't screw it up again. - I have to get ready for the meeting." The man smiled. "The meeting of our final triumph…" His voice trembled in anticipation.

(Next time, the secret of Imhotep's seal is revealed - stay with me =))


	10. The Ring of Truth

**=== Old mining shaft / Laboratory of the Particle Accelerator ===**

Several hundred meters below the surface, the VERITAS-team awaited impatiently for the CTR to finish its work. Slice after slice of the famous Stone of Scone, the age-old crowning relic of the Scottish kings, appeared on the computer screen. So far, the procedure hat revealed nothing spectacular. Had their guessing been wrong? Calvin gnawed nervously on his lip and Juliet narrowed her eyes like a teacher waiting for the answer of a particular retarded pupil…

"There's something!" Maggie called out. "Appears to be a cavity… no, it's too rectangular to be natural! It's definitive a carved out space in the middle!"

Solomon Zond bent closer to the screen. "And there's something within! Is it possible to magnify that section over there? … Yes!"

All eyes stared at the small round shaped object emerging in front of them.

"Is that a stone?"

"Don't know… The rays can't penetrate it. It's…. it's…"

"Hieroglyphs!" Juliet whispered in awe.

"Look at the inner circle! That's a character of the scripture of the Ancients!" Cal pointed at the screen. "And there's the next one!"

"It might be some sort of a Rosetta stone," Juliet mused, already trying to translate the hieroglyphs. But the writing on that object, which was only about 12 centimeters in diameter, was obviously encoded and compressed. They would need time to compare the text with other fragments and to decipher it!

"I wonder how they got it INTO the stone!" Calvin shook his head.

"Maybe they beamed it into it," Nikko said, meaning it as a joke. However, his father only replied "We have to consider every possibility. It wouldn't be the first time the Ancients surprised us with their technology."

"Teleportation is technically not possible," Cal said, enjoying his knowledge once again. "You just can't store the information of the exact location of every subatomic particle without using a computer the size-"

"Wait!" Maggie retrieved one of the previous pictures and zoomed in. "There are small lines… I think… yes, this section seems to have been removed and later replaced, using some sort of mortar."

"Yes, I see it!" Solomon confirmed. "So we might be able to actually get the Seal without damaging the Stone." Of course, damaging anything had been out of question anyway! The government and National Museum trust would've never allowed such a thing, and he had signed multiple warranties. This wasn't just some old artifact, lost and forgotten for thousands of years, this was a monument of public interest! But if they could get what they wanted in just re-opening the ancient 'entrance', this wasn't exactly 'damaging' the stone, was it?

…

Meanwhile, Vincent was in the supervising room some floors up, together with two police men and an engineer from the facility. He had double checked the elevators, emergency exits and the ventilation grid, using an automated probe in the last case. So far, everything was clear. Nonetheless, he had positioned himself strategically at a point, from where he could see the monitoring screens as well as the elevators. And beneath his inconspicuously coat, he was well equipped with a whole arsenal of weapons.

_So, that was it, the Seal of Imhotep_, Vincent thought catching a glimpse of the piece on one of the screens. Suddenly it felt as if it hadn't been that long, that he crawled into the tomb in Saqqara in 1218. Time seemed to shrink. Now would be fulfilled what had started then; not only the quest of the VERITAS team, but also the quest of his own life… What would happen, if the seal was inserted in the Ring of Truth, where it belonged?

Vincent saw a tiny blur from the corner of his eyes and startled from his thoughts. Following the effect, he discovered that the blur in fact was a fast spreading cloud of smoke coming from the AC system near the ceiling. Experience, instinct and training made Vincent react instantaneously and get down on the floor, ordering the others to do the same. But already, one of the police men, who had stood next to the AC, sank to his knees. The engineer tried to make it to the door, but was out before he could reach it, and the remaining police officer tried the wrong thing: reaching for the phone instead of getting out as fast as he could.

Vincent couldn't bother with them. He knew he would hold out longer because of the regenerating ability of his cells, but the poison, whatever it was, took its toll as well. Crawling out as close to the floor as possible, he had the impression to breathe pure fire. He coughed, tried to suppress the need to gasp for air. His aim was the place with the fire extinguisher and oxygen mask some meters ahead. But it became more and more difficult to move at all; his body seemed to become heavier with every second, and his vision was darkening, too. One of the elevators moved down. _The attackers must have neutralized the rest of the police force upstairs at the entrance … Maybe they have parachuted down, thus avoiding the police barricades… _Vincent thought. _They are on their way to the lab… to get the artifacts… _He fought to get the mask out of its casing. His fingers just didn't want to comply! His mind focused on one thing, more precious than the Ring or the Seal: Juliet! He had to help her! If he failed in everything else – not in that task! Finally, he had the mask on and the oxygen flow regulated. It took a while though, until he could breathe better and stand up again, not to mention to run and fight. Some precious minutes passed.

When Vincent arrived in the lab, the intruders were gone, and with them the box holding the fragments of the Ring. Gone as well was the just extracted Seal of Imhotep. And his friends, his beloved Juliet, lay on the floor! He checked their pulse; they were alive, but who knew what damage the gas had done? Vincent had retrieved another oxygen mask from the emergency kit on this floor, and this one he dragged over Juliet's head. It was hard not being able to help all of his team mates, however he didn't hesitate one moment longer. It might be wrong, considered their goal, their mission – but he didn't care about that now!

When he looked up again, he discovered some police men and paramedics, all of them equipped with masks, heading through the corridor towards the laboratory. Someone in the control center must've been able to hit the emergency button! "What happened?" one of the police shouted, sounding muffled because of his mask.

"Intruders. Used some sort of gas," Vincent answered, still cowering next to Juliet. "They've stolen the artifacts we were testing!" The paramedics set to work and heaved the unconscious team members on stretchers. Juliet opened her eyes – that was, what Vincent had waited for! "Everything will be okay," he whispered. "I love you, always remember that!"

Then he stood up, pushed a police officer aside to reach the elevator.

"Hey! Wait! We need to quest—" A professionally placed hit by Vincent made the officer stumble against the wall and down. When he had his gun ready to fire, Vincent had already vanished behind the elevator doors. No time to answer questions right now; he had to fetch the precious artifacts, before DORNA did anything nasty with them!

He left the elevator one floor above and then took the emergency staircase. It was far too easy to block an elevator and thus apprehend him! On a staircase, there were always certain possibilities for a well trained and well armed man!

…

The black Rover sped ahead, away from the area of the old mining facility. Inside, two DORNA adepts leaned back and enjoyed their victory, while the third, Antonio de'Medici snarled a grumpy: "Don't get over confident!" He was very pissed off, to say the least, that those two idiots had managed that easily what he had failed to achieve so far. "We're not done yet."

The man sitting next to him just grinned and picked the little tracing device from the box containing the Ring. "I'd love to take a look at that damned thing, you know!"

De'Medici clasped the other man's hand before it could reach the bar of the box. "If you touch it, you'll die." How it was disgusting having to rely on that kind of people! How it was disgusting seeing them succeed!

"Cool off, man." The henchman leaned back again and searched for his cigarette package. His colleague, a slim Asian type, started to play with the Seal. However, a threatening look by De'Medici made him place it back in the casing.

…

Vincent had given the police surrounding the facility a short but hard fight, that ended with several incapacitated officers and three destroyed cars. Now he was under way on a police bike, so far successfully outrunning his pursuers. DORNA had only one place close and safe enough – and he knew the way to it. They wouldn't risk bringing the artifacts out of the country; they would try to assemble and test them as soon as possible. He had to stop them!

Vincent was that absorbed in his determined thoughts that he almost collided with the black limousine suddenly crossing his way. He recognized the vehicle even before the window at the driver's seat was lowered and Jean de Molay's face appeared.

"Vincent!" he greeted, "I was confident you'd make it. The dosage was heavy, but for sure not enough to bring you down."

"You knew about that attack! Knew and let Solomon walk into that trap! Are they the collateral damage now?"

"They only will be, if we don't hurry!" Molay replied. "Get into the car. A police bike is not exactly suited to get away unnoticed."

"We have to stop the activation of the Ring!"

"We will do what is necessary."

Vincent was well aware that Molay's definition of their goal was not his own, and now even less. But there remained no option to take things in his own hands, when his companion continued: "I just gave the police an anonymous note about someone doing suspicious things near the Particle Accelerator. Someone resembling you very closely, Vincent. So either you are on my side – or you're in jail very soon."

While complying, Vincent remembered the old saying about hunter and prey, or opponents on each other's heels for too long. In the end, they became so much alike, that no one could discern the difference anymore…

**=== One day later / Underground meeting place of DORNA ===**

The elite of DORNA had gathered. Today the millennia-long search and the waiting would end. How exactly, this question was answered differently. Some thought they would initiate contact with the descendants of the Ancients, others thought the Ring would show itself as the ultimate weapon to gain control over the vile, retarded humanity. Yet others believed they would reach a higher level of existence. In any case, a feeling of impatience and anticipation dominated them. And their eyes were fixed on that altar like structure in their middle, which held the Ring of Truth and, next to him, the Seal. It was gleaming in the light, almost fluorescing.

Vincent, who stood nearby, felt reminded at the glow in Imhotep's tomb in Saqqara. He knew that the only reason he was still alive was, that they wanted to make an example of him, of course after he had the opportunity to watch their glorious triumph! His glance moved to Molay's motionless figure; a shadow amongst other shadows waiting for their resurrection. There was no doubt anymore that he, Vincent, had been the other man's entrance fee to that assembly. The price that Molay was willing to pay. Just some more collateral damage! What did it matter, in the end; in the grand scheme of things this man was thinking in? Nothing, obviously. Nothing for him. But for Vincent, it mattered a great deal. Nonetheless, he had not many options left. He had been disarmed as soon as he arrived and since then, he was under surveillance - meaning a friendly little laser tracker from a sniper rifle pointing at his head.

One member of the DORNA elite, a Chinese, had stepped into the circle and approached the altar in the middle. Two other members closed in from the other sides. A perfect triangle moving towards its center. DORNA always had a sense for theatrics, Vincent had to admit that. "Stop it," he wanted to shout, however he knew, no one would have listened.

**=== Edinburgh Campus / Temporary VERITAS-HQ ===**

An hour ago, the team had been released from the hospital. Their mood was down, and not only because they felt still tired and struggled with headaches and cough. The enemy had taken their artifacts, and he had taken them with surprising ease. All those years when they had enjoyed a little victory against DORNA - now all was nullified. They had won. Solomon Zond sighed and felt too weak to sit up. His life's work was shattered! No, not only his, but Haley's as well. And he had hoped to finish what she hadn't been able to do! He had silently promised her that the moment he had been informed of Haley's death. Now Solomon felt doubly frustrated. And Vincent… Vincent was still gone…

"Well, he finally did it!" Nikko snorted. "Betray us to DORNA! He had just waited for the right time!"

"Vincent hasn't betrayed anyone!" Juliet shouted back, immediately regretting her outburst because of her headache. "How can you even think such a thing?"

"The police showed us his picture, didn't they? He let that mysterious intruder escape! He was snooping around the facility-"

"Because he set up security for us!"

"He did a fine job in that," joined Calvin, shuffled to the window and looked outside.

"-and he was seen in company of known DORNA members!" Nikko ended. He felt so angry and sad at the moment, he was close to cry.

"I'm sure there's an explanation for that!" Juliet jumped up and looked around in the faces of her team mates, not really believing what she saw there. She remembered Vincent saying 'Trust me'! She really did; it wasn't just a figment of her imagination! "Solomon! Say something! Vincent is your best friend! You just cannot believe he's a traitor!"

But the team leader sat there, face buried in his hands, and remained silent. The silence was oppressing. Juliet stared into the faces; faces that turned away one after the other. That was the true victory of DORNA, Juliet realized with shock. Not only had they stolen the Ring of Truth and the Seal of Imhotep. They had stolen their heart, their soul, their trust, their friendship!

**==== Underground meeting place of DORNA ====**

Simultaneously, the three members of the ancient organization had lifted the round shaped Seal and placed into the middle of the Ring. And something amazing happened: the only partially assembled Ring completed itself, until all missing segments had appeared. Then, a faint blue light shot up to the ceiling - and beyond, penetrating the concrete without damaging it. A moment later, the linear light started to split and form some sort of rotating helix. Some DORNA members fell to their knees. Others preferred to run out. The eerie helix spread fast, and a soft hum filled the room.

Vincent looked to Molay, whose face had the solemnity of a martyr seeing his cause finally win. _It is wrong_, Vincent thought, _it is all wrong…_ The laser twitched away from him. The sniper had other things to do right now.

The blue helix span faster, widening its diameter. Strange black cracks appeared in the air, as if the reality was an old paper withering away. One of the cracks reached a DORNA member, and before the robed figure could pull back, it had penetrated him and deleted him from existence. Just like in a computer game, the man simply vanished in a white flash of energy. He hadn't even time to cry. But others did, now, and they fled out of the room, away from the force they had unleashed.

Vincent stared at the Ring. The helix started to spread only about ten centimeters above the inserted Seal. Similar to a tree spreading its branches. So maybe it was possible to reach the artifacts and separate them again… He drew a deep breath, thought at Juliet - and lunged forward.

…

The next moment he felt strangely weightless and lifted upside down into a vortex of light. For an instant, he believed to recognize the surroundings as something Ancient Egyptian. Hieroglyphs… painted columns… a pyramid in gleaming white new stones…. Then the pictures swirled faster. Suddenly, it was dark - and Vincent recognized the surroundings as the frightening path through the Pyrenees, that he had been walking with the Holy Grail in his bag. The place, where he lost footage and fell! There it was, everything happened again! He tried frantically to hold onto something, but he continued to fall into the black gaping abyss.

_Let go, let go!_ The voice of his father? That wasn't right! Nothing was right. Nothing was real! _Focus! _For some seconds, as if windows opened in the whirling light, Vincent saw other strange things. Huge bridge like shapes, high almost transparent towers, a strange sky with a double moon… Voices again. He couldn't understand what they said, and he couldn't discern the faces of the persons. He tried to speak, but he wasn't able to, just like in a nightmare.

Then, he was back in the castle of his father again, hearing him debate with one of his knights whom to entrust the Grail. _Your son is too young. He will fail. - He won't. - Trust him. _The voice of a woman. What woman? There hadn't been a woman in this discussion. And yet, now there was. A woman with long dark hair that was all Vincent could see through the blurred haze of this … dreamscape. _Juliet?_ He still couldn't speak.

_Send him back_, the woman continued.

_Our guardians have failed the first time. We will destroy it. It is too dangerous._

_Trust me. Trust him. We have proven to be on the path of truth._

The light became a blinding, hurting crescendo, before it abruptly ended.

…

"Vincent? … Wake up! … Come on, wake up!" The voice of the woman was still there, but it wasn't Juliet's voice for sure.

Slowly, Vincent opened his eyes. Next to him kneeled - Haley!


	11. Reunion

**=== DORNA's underground meeting place ===**

Not believing what his eyes saw, Vincent stretched his hand after the woman's arm. "Haley?" She felt real, not like a figment of his imagination.

"Yes it's me. You're not hallucinating."

Slowly, Vincent rose to his knees, looked around. Except for Haley and him the place was deserted, and its mysterious aura gone. It was just the huge underground complex of a factory hall, with rusty pipes crossing the walls. A gaping hole in the ceiling let the sunlight in. Dust particles danced in the rays. "Where are they?"

"In another time and place, probably, maybe dead. I don't know," Haley answered, helping him up. "They failed to fulfill their pledge to the Ancients. DORNA does no longer exist."

"The Ancients… I saw them… on another planet." Vincent narrowed his eyes and tried to bring order in his hazy memories. "Their civilization is still… alive. And you…" He turned back to Haley again, "…were with them all those years?" It was too amazing to process.

Haley nodded. "I was … sort of transported away in that temple in South America. It was an ancient teleportation device. They kept me with them to learn…and they were afraid to send me back because of what I had seen."

Vincent took her hands, still not quite able to understand that she really had returned; that they both really had seen a place far away from Earth – how far exactly? – and now simply stood here in this hall like junkies waking up after a 'session'. "You know… Solomon and Nikko, they… still grieve for you. They missed you so much."

"I missed them as well, all of you! – God, I feel so tired." She leaned against him. "Half of my life I thought I would give anything, ANYTHING, you know, to see what I have seen now. And when I saw it, I just wished to be home in my normal life again! Well…" She smiled, "almost normal life!"

Vincent's glance fell on the Ring with the Seal in its middle. It looked like any old stone artifact. Nothing spectacular. Somehow, he had expected those items gone as well. He walked over and bent down, carefully touching the stone.

"The time for search is over," he heard Haley saying, "now the time of guarding and learning has begun. "We are far from ready for the gifts of the Ancients and their successors. Using them the way DORNA had in mind would lead to humankind's destruction."

"I know. So… the Grail needs new keepers?"

"And teachers." She stepped at his side. "I think the VERITAS-team is best prepared for that."

That was, what Vincent finally brought back to the matters at hand. "We have to contact the others! I don't know how much time has passed… Seems to be afternoon, though. Let's have a look outside. There should be the one or the other car waiting for our sadly indisposed DORNA elite!"

…

Shortly after, Vincent and Haley climbed into a black car he only knew too well. Now Molay was gone. The man, who had shared his life for so long, tortured his life for so long, helped him, used him - and in the end betrayed him. It felt odd that he wasn't around anymore… Like a pain that had suddenly vanished, you missed it…

"Where are your thoughts, Vincent?"

"Nothing," he replied. "I just figured that it might be better if you drive and I try to make myself invisible on the back seat. There's a search warrant out for me, and unless I've solved this problem somehow, it is better I show a low profile."

"YOU and making yourself invisible!" Haley smiled. They joked like in the old days. Strange, but maybe the only way to cope with the abruptly changed reality.

While storing the precious artifacts in the car, Vincent smiled back. "What, doubting my skills?" Yes, joking made him feel a bit lighter. All in all, hadn't they witnessed a few miracles worth to celebrate? Haley was alive, he was alive, DORNA was destroyed, and yet, there was something… not feeling right. Sometime later, when Haley drove the car past a newspaper stand in the nearby village, Vincent knew what it was: the date!

"Haley! Pull back a few meters!"

"What?"

"The newspaper stand! Pull back so I can read the date in the headline of the Times!" No, he wasn't mistaken!

"Vincent, what's with the date?"

"Today is the 5th of March! It's almost a month since that DORNA assembly took place!" He wiped over his face, totally in shock. _Oh God, Juliet must be worried sick! _"I need to know what happened!" He took a deep breath. "Turn left the next corner, Haley. To the driveway up North!" Internet access was first priority now, not only to purge the police records, but also to get filled in with the latest events.

**=== North of Edinburgh / Residence of a former DORNA leader ===**

Crime-scene- patches and cordons decorated the door of the mansion. Obviously, the police had been busy gathering evidence about the attack in the Particle Accelerator, the strange events in a factory hall and the following sudden disappearance of some people.

"We can't go in," Haley said, looking around.

"Of course we can. And we have to." Vincent slipped the gloves on he had ordered Haley to procure and made his way to the nearest window. "Let's just hope the police haven't found Mister Cavenworth's secret control center!"

A moment later, they were inside the house and made their way through the opulent library. At one wall, Vincent reached into a board and touched the switch hidden behind a huge antique tome. It squeaked – and then a part of the wall started to detach and open into a compartment behind. "Voilà!"

"Nice." Haley watched the high tech equipment what didn't suit very well to the Victorian outside of the library and the whole house.

"I was here several times, before my defection," Vincent told her and sat down in front of one of the computers. "It's a good thing DORNA were that sure of themselves! I would never have left that room intact and accessible, with a potentially dangerous traitor on the loose." He smiled and switched the computer on. Of course it was password protected. Vincent hadn't Maggie's hacking skills, but they were sufficient to bypass Cavenworth's security first, and later the police's…

"I can't wait to see Solomon and Nikko," Haley said, walking through the tiny room and observing Vincent's sinister doing. "I can't believe that so many years have passed! Time has a completely different meaning … there. Tell me about Nikko!"

Vincent looked up. "Well, he's intelligent, smart, and inquisitive like a raccoon… a very good chess player and, in case he manages enough discipline, he'll be very good at martial arts as well one day. You'll be proud of him." He typed another set of numbers into the keyboard and then leaned back. "Done! Records purged!"

Seeing Haley's surprised look, he continued: "I've done it quite some times already. Standard procedure for someone with DORNA. You attack the master file and attach a sort of virus altering the copy files existing everywhere."

Now it was time to check for his team and the events of last month! As much as he loved to, he couldn't risk making a phone call from here with the land line – the police would probably have that under surveillance and thus track them down fast. However, not much time was necessary to find out that the VERITAS team had left the country a few days after the dreadful events. The British government and the Scottish representatives and museum officials were more than delighted to find the Stone of Scone mostly unharmed: a little part of the stone from the size of a cigarette package had obviously been attached to the rest of the relic with some sort of plaster a long time ago and could easily be placed at the right position. Nothing about the real purpose of the examination showed up in the media. Solomon Zond had been careful as usual. The attack in the Particle Accelerator had been declared a terrorist action – how convenient – and linked to the recent difficulties the UK experienced in the Middle East. Some conspiracy theorists thought to understand that the British government made secret weapon tests in the Accelerator…

Vincent switched the computer off. "We have to head back to New York."

"How are we supposed to do that? We both have no IDs. I'm officially dead. Your manipulator skills won't reach that far, I guess?" Haley asked.

"By ship." He stood up and stepped to the compartment's door. "Old fashioned stowaway."

**=== VERITAS Headquarters, New York ===**

The team had desperately tried to find back to a normality that did no longer exist. The lack of purpose made everyone edgy. The foundation itself was as good as dissolved, more so because Solomon couldn't contact their benefactor anymore. From one day to the other, the hard-working and dedicated team had lost everything. Calvin had already browsed several job offers – not too obviously, though. Still it felt like desertion. Juliet had tried to resume the work on her thesis, with not much success. That afternoon, she had just ended like the days before in front of her computer: her mind a blank space; nothing made any sense. She held the photo of Vincent in her hands, when it knocked and the door opened.

"Mind if I come in? Brought you some tea." Nikko.

"Thank you." Generally, Juliet appreciated that he cared that much for her, but right now, she didn't want to see anyone – except the one person everyone said she would never see again. She couldn't find a polite excuse to turn Nikko away, though. He sat down the tablet with the tea next to her computer, when the telephone in the lounge rang.

Nikko ignored it. Discovering Vincent's photograph in Juliet's hand, he said: "He won't come back. He's with DORNA preparing to take over the world."

"He will." She looked at him with a stubborn determination. She simply refused to believe anything else. The telephone still rang. Nikko fought for something to answer at that statement. "Don't you want to take the call?" Juliet finally asked, her nerves close to split. Nikko sighed, turned around and left – but before he had reached the phone, it had stopped ringing.

**===Edinburgh / Harbor Area ===**

Vincent dropped the phone and left the call box. He hadn't enough money for another try. They had sold his watch in a dubious Indian shop to raise funds for provisions and basic equipment such as blankets for their planned escape.

"Seems to be a gremlin in there," Haley commented. "Two times no connection at all, and then no one picks up the phone!"

"They have probably their hands full." Vincent grabbed the bags. He only hoped that nothing else was behind those communication problems. However, he didn't want to share his worries with Haley. Even if there had something happened – there was nothing they could do about it now. They had to get out of the country, hidden in a cramped space on a container ship. Worries and fear would come soon enough; no need to accelerate that. _If I only could've reached Juliet!_

They walked to an old dry dock and sat down on the ramp. Vincent took his binoculars and checked the area and the situation on board their destination. "We'll wait until it is dark," he decided.

"But then, there will be flood lights."

"Where's light, there's shadow."

Haley smiled at that comment. "You haven't changed, Vincent! And not only that… you really have to tell me your anti-aging-secret!"

"We'll have plenty of time when on board."

The way he said it took the short lightness of their conversation away and Haley's smile faded. Obviously, she missed out a lot more than just her son growing up and graduating high school! "I'm so nervous about meeting Solomon and Nikko again," she said after a moment, feeling guilty again.

Vincent understood without her explaining more. "It wasn't your fault, Haley. It wasn't your intention to leave them alone. It was an accident."

"You warned me, back then. But I was simply so greedy… Do you think we will ever learn what they want us to learn; ever reach the goal they've set for us?" She placed her hand on the box containing the Ring and the Seal.

"We can only try."

**=== VERITAS HQ / New York / One week later ===**

Calvin was packing. He had obtained a post at Berkeley. Although the others were happy for him, they nonetheless knew it was the beginning of the falling apart of their team. Nikko had applied for a scholarship at the New York University. Solomon was busy with indexing previous minor finds the team had made during the last years; things he said he'd never had the time to do before. However, it was more some sort of occupational therapy.

"You know what," Nikko just said, "it is strange that we haven't heard from DORNA yet. I mean, they haven't tried to take over the government with super weapons, or something like that."

"Maybe because real life is no fantasy movie," replied Calvin.

"I'm sure we'll hear from them soon," Solomon stated. "They always work quietly and only show up in the end. We're just…. not important enough for them. Nothing still worth to bother with." He stared out of the window.

The doorbell broke through the thick air of frustration. Thinking it might already be the driver of the cab Calvin had called, Juliet went down and opened the door. "Morning, maybe you want to come in for a cup of coffee; we're not ready yet," she said, not really looking at the bearded man with sunglasses standing in the shady doorway.

"A coffee would be nice indeed, thank you."

Now Juliet squinted. Stared. All of a sudden, no air seemed to remain around her. She tried to speak, but only a faint breath escaped her, while she felt her knees buckle. "Vincent….?"

His quick embrace saved her from the fall. Now she clasped onto him. "I'm so sorry you had to go through this, Juliet. I tried to reach you, but…"

With Juliet not returning, Calvin had decided to take a look. Standing on top of the staircase leading to the entrance floor, he stared down in disbelief. What was Juliet - He never fully formed the thought, recognizing the voice of the supposed stranger. "Vincent! What the heck…! You're not with DORNA?"

"DORNA is history."

In the meantime, the other members of the VERITAS team had gathered as well to see what was going on. "Where have you been?" Maggie asked.

"In another time and space. And the last week, in a small dark compartment on board a container ship. - But, before we sit down and talk: I have a few more surprises." Not letting entirely go off Juliet, he reached down and pushed the bag with the box into the light of the floor. "In here is something that belongs to us! And here…" He got up again and looked over his shoulder into the archway. "… is the long missed member of our team!"

_Well, Vincent has a talent for theatrical entrances_, Calvin thought. Solomon had walked down the first steps, when the light fully fell on the person entering behind Vincent. A somewhat pale and fragile looking woman with long brown hair… Haley? Standing down there in the floor? Solomon stopped dead in his tracks. He had wished so desperately this vision, this dream to become a reality somehow - now he feared to have become a prey of his own desperation. Or was this all… a trick from DORNA?

"Solomon, I'm … I'm so glad to see you're okay," Haley managed a bit shaky, but he didn't move any further. Nikko however, didn't think as much. He stormed past his father. "Mom!" Haley was grateful for his wild embrace, because thus she had a moment longer to get her embarrassment under control. This was her little Nikko, who barely could look on top of the table with the digging tools, back then in South America? Her little baby-boy, all grown up! She couldn't suppress her tears though, when Solomon took her into his arms as well. Vincent kissed Juliet again.

Only the doorbell disturbed the happy reunion some minutes later. "The cab," Calvin said. "I let the driver know that … uhm… we don't need him right away. I think, I'll postpone this Berkeley assignment a bit longer."

**=== VERITAS HQ / New York ===**

Two days later, Maggie performed some medical tests on Haley and Vincent in order to see if their exposure to that strange environment had altered their physiology in some way. So far, everything seemed fine; no radiation residues or chemical imbalances, and the EEG was normal, too. Nonetheless, something was different indeed. With a sigh, Maggie retrieved the last test results she had from Vincent, compared them, checked again. No, there was no doubt, that wasn't just a glitch in the software or the microscope! She leaned back, closed her eyes and pondered about the right way to inform Vincent about her findings.

…

Vincent and Juliet sat down in Maggie's lab. Juliet's worries were clearly written on her face. "You have that look, just as then when you had discovered that mummy-virus. There's something wrong, isn't it? "

"That depends on your point of view," Maggie answered. Another deep breath. But there was no way around it; she just had to tell them the truth. "Vincent, your nanoprobes are gone. I rechecked everything. It is as if they never had existed."

"So I'm…"

"… a completely normal human being with the average life-span."

Hearing that, a smile started to form on Vincent's face; a smile that within the next moment became a happy laugh. He turned to Juliet, who still looked worried, and embraced her tightly. "Didn't I tell you, we just had to go on - and someday the way would be open and clear?"

"Yes… But… now…"

"Now we're going to grow old together! Unless you have something against the picture of shuffling steadied on a walking stick next to my wheelchair some day?"

Now Juliet laughed as well, despite the tears she couldn't hold back either. "I will always love you, Vincent!"

…

In the library of the foundation, Solomon, Haley and Nikko sat together. Despite all the prestigious volumes stapled around them, they talked about rather mundane things. Nikko had just announced that he would take up his studies at the university as planned. This wasn't what his father had expected.

"I just think," Nikko answered Solomon's question, "I have to do something on my own, build something on my own. In addition to the work within the team, Dad."

"I don't want you leaving because of Vincent."

"I don't." Nikko played nervously with his pen. "Not entirely. I mean… It was Vincent who suggested that I'd "hunt down some lions on my own" as he expressed it. But we're friends again. I only need to … put a little distance between me and Juliet and him and … everything, you know. For a while. - Hey, Mom, Dad, don't look at me like that! I'll be still in New York and intend to follow you back to Egypt for the excavations at Saqqara!"

Solomon was about to answer something, but Haley put her hand on his arm. As much as she regretted Nikko leaving home - holding him back wasn't how family worked. She couldn't make up for the lost years that way. They all had to find a new place.

"Well, I expect you to make a top graduation," Solomon eventually said and indulged a little smile.

"Oh wow, wait, Dad, I haven't even started yet!"

Solomon's smile became a broad grin, and now the whole family laughed. "Just give your best, Nikko! We have a lot to discover and decipher, and I need every hand and head!"

THE END


End file.
